President's Cup set for fourth leg

Butuan City claimed the third leg of the President's Cup

With the Grand Final looming later in the week, the twelve teams participating in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup are seeking one more title via the fourth leg slated later this afternoon.

The third leg on Sunday finally produced a different winner, as Uling Roasters-Butuan City took advantage of an early exit by Family's Brand Sardines-Zamboanga City Chooks to secure the PhP 100,000 prize.

Even with the title in their pocket, the quartet remains hungry for excellence. "This doesn't mean anything," according to Franky Johnson. He shares, "We gotta go to the next leg and execute the same thing there."

Their continued success in the three legs of the President's Cup so far allowed Butuan to claim the lead in points with just one more leg left before the Grand Final on October 30.

Johnson adds, "Of course, this is a confidence-booster for us, but we've been confident since the preseason just from knowing all the hard work we put in. We prepared ourselves to give ourselves the best shot here. We're all locked in."

In their quest to match Zamboanga City, they will need to take care of business in Pool A, with Bacolod-Master Sardines and Sarangani Marlins serving as initial opposition.

Seeking to go one step farther is Pasig-Sta. Lucia, who pulled off the upset against Zamboanga City in the quarterfinals. Johnson gave the team their props after their matchup, "They're a tough team. You saw how they played us in the Finals. In this league, we don't underestimate anybody. Everybody is getting better from preseason to now so our mindset is we have to level up too."

The Realtors will have to deal with Bicol-Paxful 3x3 Pro and Nueva Ecija in pool play.

As for the national team pool quartet of Joshua Munzon, Alvin Pasaol, Troy Rike, and Leonard Santillan, they will face Palayan City and Pagadian-Rocky Sports in pool play.

Completing the field are Big Boss Cement-Porac, Petra Cement-Roxas ZN, and Zamboanga Peninsula-MLV.

The two teams of each Pool advance into the knockout rounds, until we have a champion.

Also scheduled to take place today are the side events in the form of the TM Two-Point Shootout and the TM Slam Dunk Contest. The latter sees David Carlos try to claim his third straight leg against Darwin Cantong and Jesus Manay.