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| Joshua Munzon is fired up. |
Both Pasig Chooks and Balanga Chooks are through to the knockout rounds after winning each of their group stage matches at the Katara Amphitheatre in the Qatar capital, egged on the Filipino crowd present.
Chooks Pilipinas 3x3 commissioner Eric Altamirano saw the effort of the Pinoy clubs in person in Doha, and he was beaming with pride. He shares, "Our teams showed the world what we have been doing for the last three months. Unlike past teams that were confused with the rules, Pasig and Balanga only made a few mental mistakes during their games. In addition, they were disciplined."
The Risers needed some down-the-wire dramatics to sweep Pool C.
They survived an ankle injury to Leonard Santillan during their massive 19-17 victory over Riga Ghetto, the third-ranked team in FIBA 3x3 and is fresh from claiming the Wuxi Challenger earlier this month. Playing without him in the second game, they then managed to eke out a 20-19 overtime win over Moscow Inanomo.
Overtime rules dictate the first team to score a couple of points wins, and with Moscow scoring first, thanks to Yura Bespalov, but the Russians can't celebrate that, as Alvin Pasaol nails a corner two-pointer to end the game.
The UE standout shared after the game, "Unang-una, nagpapasalamat ako kay Boss Ronald [Mascariñas]. Para sa kanya yung tira na ito kung hindi dahil sa kanya, wala kami rito. Kahit dehado na dehado na kami, pinakita namin na ang pusong Pinoy ay hindi titiklop ng ganun ganun lang."
The Kings also pulled off the sweep in Pool A.
After opening their campaign with a 21-14 win over host side Katara that ensured their berth into the knockout rounds, the Chooks Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup champions faced off against top-ranked FIBA 3x3 team Liman, with the likelihood of an All-Filipino quarterfinal had they lost.
It was a nip-and-tuck matchup, even with the Serbs not having their top-ranked player Stefan Stojacic for this tournament.
Nikola Pavlovic nails a two-pointer with 64 seconds remaining to give Pasig the lead for good at 16-14. Liman would cut that deficit back down to a single point, but Taylor Statham scored back-to-back buckets to complete the 19-16 upset.
Taylor shared after the game, "I am very happy in the way our team took care of business today. Beating the number one team in the world is a great accomplishment but we are nowhere near satisfied."
Travis Franklin of Bataan ended up the leading scorer after Day 1 with 24 points, followed by Statham's eighteen.
The success of both teams was a nice surprise for Chooks Pilipinas 3x3 league owner Ronald Mascariñas, who says, "Even we are surprised with the performance of both our teams. But now that we are in the quarterfinals, I challenged the boys to continue the momentum and show the world that Philippine 3x3 basketball is here to stay in the World Tour."
The only disappointment for the Philippines in the Doha Masters came in the shootout qualifiers, where both Karl Dehesa (Balanga) and Angelo Tsagarakis (Pasig) fell short of making the finals. Both finished with four points out of ten, a couple shy of finishing in the top three that makes it into the finals.
The knockout rounds commence later tonight, with Pasig Chooks kicking things off at 945pm with their quarterfinal matchup against Riga Ghetto.
As for Balanga Chooks, they will face off against Liman at 1115pm. All eyes now are on Santillan's ankle, as he remains a game-time decision for that matchup.
In between, Piran faces Chooks-to-Go 3x3 Asia Pacific Super Quest champions Tokyo Dime.EXE at 1015pm, with Novi Sad attempting to extend their 34-match World Tour winning streak against Ljubljana at 1040pm.
Also to take place at Day 2 is the Dunk Contest, where Filipino dunking sensation David Carlos goes up against Vadim Poddubchenko (a.k.a Miller) of the Ukraine and Joel Henry of Great Britain. It takes place at 1255am, before the final.
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