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| He's back. Leonard Santillan returns to Balanga for the Patriot's Cup. |
The fourth leg of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 Patriot's Cup presented by Coca-Cola is set to take place tomorrow, and with the race for the top spot as close as it is, teams are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to finish the tournament on top.
Foremost in that quest is Wilkins-Balanga Pure, who have gone back to an old reliable for this penultimate leg, replacing Chris de Chavez with Leonard Santillan.
Currently the top-ranked Under-23 Filipino in the FIBA 3x3 rankings at 51st overall, Santillan was part of Balanga's run towards four finals appearances in the President's Cup, will make his Patriot's Cup debut at the SM Megamall Events Center. He joins Alvin Pasaol, Karl Dehesa, and Travis Franklin as they seek to build on the momentum they got from securing their first finals berth during the third leg this past weekend, with the squad in fourth place with 220 points.
Speaking of momentum, Basilan Steel is now atop the leaderboard after finally nailing their first title with 260 points. They will still be without Roosevelt Adams for this leg, with the Fil-Am committed to see action for Mighty Sports in the Jones Cup after missing the last leg with an injury. After tapping Gab Dagangon last week, the Steel will look to Brandon Hunter to fill the void alongside Franky Johnson, Troy Rike, and Marcus Hammonds.
With just a 30-point lead over VetHealth-Delhi and Gold's Gym-Pasig, Basilan recognize the situation they are in. Johnson shares, "We can't be complacent. We have to work on our plays and continue to build chemistry with each other."
The 3x3BL veterans are coming off a semifinal loss to the Steel, doing so with just three guys as AJ Gill was not available.
The Kings, on the other hand, missed out on the last leg due to their participation in the Poitiers Challenger at the 3x3 World Tour, where they finally got a victory that proved to be enough to get them into the knockout rounds, where they finished eighth overall. League organizers have rewarded them for their effort in France with the appropriate number of points to move them into a tie with Delhi at 230 points.
Taylor Statham shares, "We can't wait to show what we've learned from our France experience."
As for the others, Max4-Birada Cebu is looking to make it back-to-back semifinal appearances as it taps Mark Penerio for Jerome Napao, while Zamboanga Valientes MLV replaces Ola Adeogun with Darius Scott.
Pool play starts at 1045am tomorrow with coverage spread all across the ESPN5 social media footprint, with TV5 telecast scheduled at 1pm.
Teams have been allocated into these groups:
Pool A: Phenom-Basilan CTC Construction, Mindoro Tamaraws, Zamboanga Valientes MLV
Pool B: Wilkins-Balanga Pure, Max4-Birada Cebu, Marikina Shoemasters
Pool C: VetHealth-Delhi 3x3BL, Inoza-Gulf Bulacan, Thunder-Pateros Hunters
Pool D: Gold's Gym-Pasig, Tycoon-Ballers Quezon City, MiGuard-Vigan
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