Santi Santillan ended up as a one-and-done for the Wilkins-Balanga Pure this conference.
It’s because the Bataan Risers did not allow Santillan to play for their 3×3 counterpart in the Grand Finals of the 2019 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Patriot’s Cup presented by Coca-Cola on Saturday, July 27 at the SM Megamall Events Center.
The Risers have a game scheduled on the same day in the 2019-20 MPBL Lakan Cup as they face Datu Cup champions Go For Gold-San Juan Knights in Albay, Bicol. Bataan is currently sitting at eighth place in the Northern Division with a 3-3 record.
Santillan, who stands at 6-foot-5, was pivotal in Wilkins-Balanga’s conquest in the fourth leg.
The product of De La Salle scored six points in their 21-20 (1:04) stunner of leg two champions VetHealth-Delhi 3BL last July 19. He followed it up with a seven-point performance in their 21-17 (1:26) win over Gold’s Gym-Pasig Kings to win the tour.
“Sobrang blessed lang talaga kasi nakasama ko yung teammates ko dati. Nasa isip ko lang, pagbumalik ako sa 3×3, kailangan champion ako,” the Cebuano said.
“Sobrang namiss ko mag-3x.”
Wilkins-Balanga enters the knockout Grand Finals as the second seed. They are tied with Phenom-Basilan with 320 points but had fewer points scored than the Steel.
The Pure will face the winner of the Zamboanga Valientes-Thunder Pateros Hunters first-round game in the quarterfinals of this tournament that has PHP 1,000,00 awarded to the champion.
The team that tallies the most points will also book a spot in the 2019 FIBA 3X3 Jeddah World Tour Masters on October 18.
