ABU DHABI — Manila Chooks could not get anything going against world no. 4 Liman, absorbing a 21-11 (8:09) in the opening Pool D game of the 2021 FIBA 3X3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Masters, Friday evening at the Kasr Al Amwaj here.
Dominant were the Serbians who raced to a 9-3 lead early and never looked back. World no. 4 Mihailo Vasic and no. 11 Aleksandar Ratkov took turns in pounding the Filipinos inside during the rally.
Though Mac Tallo tried to cool Liman with a couple of deuces, the mastery of the Liman quartet just overwhelmed Manila Chooks who could not stay in front of them.
Nebojsa Kilijan brought Liman to match-point with 2:05 left while Stefan Kojic scored the winner 14 seconds later.
Manila Chooks will fight for its tournament life when it faces world no. 5 Amsterdam of the Netherlands at 2:45 AM on Saturday.
Ratkov had six points and five rebounds for Liman while Kojic also had six points built on two deuces. Kilijan had five points and five rebounds while Vasic had three points.
Tallo was the leading scorer for Manila with eight points – all coming from rainbow country. Mark Yee had four rebounds and two points while Chico Lanete had a solitary point.
The Scores:
Liman 21 – Ratkov 6, Kojic 6, Kilijan 5, Vasic 4.
Manila 11 – Tallo 8, Yee 2, Lanete 1, Huang 0.
