Vince Tolentino will have a baptism of fire as he will be part of an All-Filipino Cebu Chooks! crew come the 2022 FIBA 3×3 Penang Challenger which will take place from September 10 to 11, 2022.
The 6-foot-5 all-around forward out of Ateneo de Manila University joins Mac Tallo (PH no. 1), Zach Huang (PH no. 2), and Brandon Ramirez (PH no. 4) in the level nine FIBA 3×3 tournament that serves as a qualifier for the 2022 Paris Masters.
“I’m really excited as this will be my first-ever 3×3 tournament. Definitely looking forward to competing with my new teammates and representing the country. I’ll do my best in fulfilling my role here in the team,” said Tolentino.
Import Mike Nzeusseu was supposed to be part of the squad but his visa to Malaysia did not make it in time.
“This will be a good test for Cebu Chooks! on whether they can compete on their own. All of our efforts for the next month will be leading towards our hosting Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3×3 Cebu World Tour Masters and Penang will be a good test for our team,” said Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascariñas as the Cebu Masters will take place from October 1 to 2 at SM Seaside.
Cebu Chooks! is slotted in Pool A along with Serbia’s Liman Huishan NE and Mongolia’s Zavkhan MMC Energy.
Cebu faces Mongolia’s second-best team at 4:10 PM on Saturday. Then they will square off against the second-best team in the world at 6:50 PM.
The top two teams will advance to the knockout stages of the tournament which has a US$40,000 prize pool.
“I will use this tournament as my gauge on who will compose the Cebu team for the Cebu Masters. Hopefully, we can bounce back in this tournament and gain momentum for our hosting,” said head trainer Chico Lanete.
