Sarangani through to knockout rounds with Butuan upset in President's Cup 4th leg

Carlo Escalambre and the Sarangani Marlins book a seat in the knockout rounds.

Sarangani secured their spot in the knockout rounds of the fourth leg of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup powered by TM on Tuesday.

To complete the sweep in Pool A, they upset third leg champions Uling Roasters-Butuan City, 21-19.

The duo of Carlo Escalambre and Pamboy Raymundo took care of the scoring for the Marlins combining for eighteen points.

With Sarangani clinging to a 19-17 lead, Escalambre scored his tenth point on a tough layup to place them on the hill with 114 seconds remaining.

A Karl Dehesa two-pointer kept Butuan's hopes alive, but Raymundo took the inbound, drove into the paint and scored his eighth point to clinch the victory.

Escalambre shared after the game, "Nakachamba lang. Gusto lang talaga namin makabawi kasi disappointing yung Leg Three namin. Nag-sweep pero tanggal nung playoffs."

Butuan rested third leg hero Franky Johnson for this leg, allowing the shooter additional rest heading into the Grand Final on October 30.

Fresh from a crushing overtime defeat to powerhouse Zamboanga City, Palayan City pounded on Pagadian City-Rocky Sports, handing them a 21-6 beating in just over seven minutes.

JP Sarao matched Pagadian's output with six points to lead the Capitals.

Also booking their tickets into the second round are Big Boss Cement-Porac and Pasig-Sta. Lucia.

The former took down Petra Cement-Roxas ZN, 18-15, with Dylan Ababou scoring nine points. The Green Gorillas also gave free passage to Zamboanga Peninsula into the knockout rounds with the victory.

The latter dispatched Bicol-Paxful 3x3 Pro, 21-17, in Pool D, with Ced Ablaza leading the way with six points. The Realtors' victory also towed Nueva Ecija into the quarterfinals.