Philippine squads Pasig Kings and 1Bataan Risers gutted out huge victories to advance to the semifinals of the 2019 Chooks-to-Go Asia Pacific Super Quest, Sunday afternoon at the SM Megamall Fashion Hall in Pasig.
Reigning Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 President’s Cup champions Kings ground out a 19-13 win over Australia’s TSV Reading Cinemas
Facing a physically-imposing squad, Pasig needed to utilize their speed and shooting against the Aussie club.
“We knew watching them [that] they were a physical team. We had to be ready and come in here and go to war,” said Munzon, the President’s Cup Most Outstanding Player. “And from the get-go, they wanted to push and shove. So we didn’t back down. We prepared ourselves mentally for what the game was going to be. We came out here and executed our game plan.”
It was Serbian reinforcement Nikola Pavlovic who delivered the goods early, knocking back-to-back deuces to give the Philippine-side cushion.
With Joshua Munzon continuing to struggle, Taylor Statham continued to provide the goods for Pasig, giving the home side a cushion that went to as high as five.
Munzon would come alive late when the Aussies were threatening, before a long Pavlovic deuce with 38 ticks left ended up as the dagger of the contest.
Pavlovic led Pasig with nine points, while Munzon added five markers.
Sweet-shooting Aussie Tim Coenraad had seven points to lead TSV Reading Cinemas.
Pasig takes on topflight Japanese squad Tokyo Dime in the semis.
The 1Bataan Risers leaned on their duo of guest players in Travis Franklin and Karl Dehesa late in a 21-15 triumph over China’s SSLC.
The contest was tied at 8-all before Dehesa’s 3×3 experience proved to be the difference. The 2016 World Cuper scored on a basket while dishing out a good pass to Alvon Pasaol, to give the Risers the lead for good.
American import Franklin powered his way inside for easy baskets, before Dehesa sealed the win with a beautiful lay-in with 1:37 to spare.
“We stayed resilient. We’re in constant communication with each other and just sticking together at the end of the game, showing our resilient attitude and our persistence to get the dub,” said Dehesa.
Franklin and Dehesa powered 1Bataan with seven points each. Pasaol and Santi Santillan chipped in four markers a piece.
Yao Xiao paced the Chinese squad with seven points.
1Bataan takes on the Jakarta West Bandits in the knockout semis at 2:00pm.
To open the quarterfinals of this regional meet, Martavious Irving and Jakarta West stunned world no. 15 Ulaanbaatar, 20-19.
With the Mongolians up 19-18, Irving knocked down the go-ahead deuce with under a minute remaining. Savon Goodman made up for two missed free throws by forcing Tsengbuuyar Gotov to a tough shot to seal the win.
World no. 19 Tokyo Dime.exe of Japan imposed their will on New Zealand’s Aotearoa, 22-9.
Down 8-9 early, the disciplined Japanese squad zoned in on the Kiwis, not allowing a bucket. Serbian import Petar Perunovic sealed the win with a deuce to end the game with 1:53 to spare.
Ulaanbaatar, Aotearoa, SSLC, and TSV Reading Cinema will still go home with US$ 1,000.
The Scores:
First Game
Jakarta West 20 – Irving 7, Goodman 5, Atkinson 4, Yancy 4.
Ulaanbataar 19 – Gotov 8, Enkhbat 5, Davaasambuu 3, Enkhtaivan 1.
Second Game
Tokyo Dime 22 – Perunovic 11, Komatsu 6, Ochiai 4, Suzuki 1.
Aotearoa 9 – Aitcheson 4, Mcintosh 2, Aruwa 2, Dunstan 1.
Third game
1Bataan 21 – Franklin 7, Dehesa 7, Pasaol 4, Santillan 4.
SSLC 15 – Xiao 7, Devrnja 3, Liu 3, Zheng 3.
Fourth game
Pasig 19 — Pavlovic 9, Munzon 5, Statham 4, Rike 1.
TSV Reading Cinema 13 –– Coenraad 7, Allen 4, Tudehope 2, Keating 0.
