Pasig set for plunge at Xiongan Challenger

Pasig Chooks headed to Xiong An

The Xiongan Challenger scheduled today and tomorrow will feature a slightly different Pasig Chooks side.

Troy Rike returns to the team he first played for, as the current Basilan Steel stalwart replaces Taylor Statham in the quartet for Pasig, joining Joshua Munzon, Dylan Ababou, and Nikola Pavlovic.

Both Rike and Ababou acknowledge that the team will have a different feel with Taylor's absence.

The former shares, "Team is gonna be a lot different without Taylor and missing him is a huge loss. We’re gonna be missing a strong physical presence who’s been a leader for Pasig since the beginning." He adds, "Our style of play is going to have to be different without him, so we’ll put our best game plan out there and just do our best to compete without him.

The latter says, "Taylor is really a big loss for the team. He is one of our best players and an exceptional athlete, but we have been together since January so we can easily make do with what we have." The UST alumnus also adds, "Here’s always pressure and it's normal. We are very hungry considering the fact that our team hasn’t proven anything yet in international tournaments."

Slotted into the main draw, they face off against Beijing at 540pm and against a qualifier at 910pm. Said qualifier involving the trio of The Hague, Calgary, and Xiongan will take place later today. Survive this, and they proceed to the knockout rounds the next day.

The Xiongan Challenger has a $32,000 prize pool and a spot at the Los Angeles Masters is at stake.

Pasig managed to participate in this tournament thanks to a technicality from FIBA 3x3. The tour did not allow Basilan into the Jeddah Masters given the complication of Rike still being registered to Pasig for this season's activities. The spot had been one of the rewards for the Steel copping the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 Patriot's Cup.

As such, Balanga, who finished runner-up to Basilan, will be making the trip to Jeddah, while Pasig gets to play in Xiongan.

Basilan will still get to play in the international stage, as they were rewarded a spot in the Sukhbaatar Challenger on September 13-14 as well as the Manila Challenger on September 7-8 where they are already expected to participate.