Pasig, Bataan through to SuperQuest knockout rounds

Taylor Statham on the drive

Pool play at the Chooks-to-Go 3x3 Asia-Pacific Super Quest concluded on Saturday afternoon, with both Filipino sides earning their way to the knockout rounds.

Chooks Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup champions Pasig finished undefeated in Pool C, needing overtime to defeat Jakarta West Bandits, 21-19, and then defeating Absolute 3x3 of Chinese-Taipei, 21-15.

In defeating Absolute 3x3, Taylor Statham starred for the Kings, scoring ten points, including two of the last four buckets. Newly-signed Nikola Pavlovic added four points, with Joshua Munzon and Troy Rike adding four and three points, respectively.

"Honestly, it's a testament to who we are as people off the court. We're all very close," said Statham. "Nikola has done a great job of coming in and adding into our team and not taking anything away. We all compete hard and we just love playing together, you can see it to how we play."

As for their fellow Filipino side 1Bataan Risers, they finished with a 1-1 record, good enough for a second place finish in Pool B.

They managed to dispatch Hong Kong's Anytours M1, 21-12, before putting in a game effort against top 3x3 side Tokyo Dime.exe 17-21.

Newly-acquired Travis Franklin scored a game-high ten points in the loss, with noted Japanese 3x3 baller Tomoya Ochiai scoring nine points, with Keita Suzuki scoring six from deep.

As for the other groups, Ulaanbaatar topped Pool A with a 21-15 win over Korean squad Enerskin and a 16-14 win over Aussie side TSV Reading Cinemas. In Pool D, Chinese side SSLC defeats Aotearoa 21-18 to top the group through quotient. The Kiwis did manage to have a better quotient than the Saigon Aces.

Quarterfinal action of the Chooks-to-Go 3x3 Asia-Pacific SuperQuest kicks off this afternoon at the Fashion Hall inside SM Megamall starting at noon.

The quarterfinal matchups are as follows:

Ulaanbaatar vs Jakarta West Bandits
Tokyo Dime.EXE vs  Aotearoa
SSLC vs Bataan
TSV Reading Cinema vs Pasig

All teams today will receive $1,000 at the minimum. The losing semifinalists will earn at least $4,000 and a berth in the 3x3 Challenger Series in Kunshan on May 18-19. Finishing third will net $7,000. As for the finalists, the Super Quest champion nets $20,000 and berths to the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters in Doha on April 18-19 as well as the Challenger Series in Penang on May 12-13. The runner-up also gets a spot in Doha and $15,000.