Travis Franklin and Balanga Chooks did not back down against world no. 3 Riga Ghetto of Latvia, scoring a 19-17 upset to open Pool C action in the 2019 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Masters, Thursday evening (Manila time) at the Katara Amphitheatre in Doha, Qatar.
American reinforcement Franklin came through for Balanga, finishing with 14 points. And the 6-foot-6 native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana fought off the sizzling desert heat, proving clutch to lift Balanga to a 1-0 record.
With the game knotted at 17-all with 16 seconds remaining, Franklin powered his way to the paint for a tough, right-handed lay-in.
Karl Dehesa was then able to draw an offensive foul against Agnis Cavars. Dehesa then split his free throws to give Balanga a two-point edge.
Karlis Lasmanis and Nauris Miezis went for broke, going for wild two-balls but missed to seal the upset.
Franklin scored Balanga’s first 10 points that helped Balanga gain a 12-5 cushion early.
Lasmanis powered the 2019 Wuxi Challenger champion’s 9-1 surge that gave the Latvians a 16-15 edge. Alvin Pasaol and Franklin stopped the bleeding but Lasmanis was able to knot things up at 17-all with 50 ticks remaining.
Lasmanis paced Riga with eight points.
Pasaol added four points for Balanga.
Balanga will have a short break before facing Russia’s Moscow Inanomo at 11:35 pm (Manila Time). A win by Balanga will automatically punch their ticket to the knockout playoffs on Friday, April 19.
The Scores:
Balanga Chooks 19 – Franklin 14, Pasaol 4, Dehesa 1, Santillan 0.
Riga Ghetto 17 – Lasmanis 8, Miezis 4, Cavars 4, Streinieks 1.
