Being down to just three men was not a hindrance in Isabela City Chooks’ Challenger debut.
Behind Marcus Hammonds and Roosevelt Adams, Isabela City ripped Mongolian club team Sukhbaatar, 21-11 (2:26), Saturday morning in Zhejiang, China.
With the win, Isabela City has one foot in the main draw of the 2019 Hongxiang Holdings Haining Challenger. They could formally punch their ticket to Pool C with a win over Thaikar later in the day.
Marcus Hammonds and Roosevelt Adams towed Isabela City to the win, scoring eight points each.
And the duo did the heavy lifting when Sukhbaatar tried to close in.
Ulzii-Orshikh Myagmarsuren gained the hot hand for Sukhbaatar, knocking down two triples in a run that sliced Isabela City’s five-point lead down to just two with 3:02 remaining.
Off a timeout, Hammonds scored on a deuce and Adams followed it up with an and-one.
Ikhbayar Chuluunbaatar with 3:27 remaining proved to be the last bucket for the Mongolians as Hammonds knocked down back-to-back deuces to send Isabela City to match point. Adams put the exclamation point with a hard drive to the hoop for a layup with 2:26 to spare.
Gab Banal chipped in five markers for Isabela City, who will miss the services of Franky Johnson for the rest of the tournament due to visa issues.
Chuluunbaatar and Ulzii-Orshikh Myagmarsuren paced Sukhbaatar with four points each.
The Scores:
Isabela City 21 – Adams 8, Hammonds 8, Banal 5.
Sukhbaatar 12 – Myagmarsuren 4, Chuluunbaatar 4, Gantsolmon 3, Batsaikhan 1.
