Zamboanga City claims President's Cup first leg

Your President's Cup first leg champions: Zamboanga City

Family Brand Sardines-Zamboanga City-Chooks took care of business inside the "Calambubble," as they topped the first leg of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup powered by TM on Wednesday.

The quartet of Joshua Munzon, Alvin Pasaol, Troy Rike, and Leonard Santillan completed the sweep with a 21-17 victory over Butuan-Uling Roasters in the final.

Butuan did not make it easy for Zamboanga City, establishing a 17-14 lead before a Munzon two-pointer jumpstarted a 7-0 run to complete the come-from-behind victory.

The man called the "Night King" scored twelve points in the final, capped off by a free throw. He shared afterwards, "Again, it showed we can fight through adversity. We just stuck to our script. We took advantage of our advantages."

Pasaol added six markers and kept the team afloat early on as they tried to fend off a game Butuan side, which was led by Karl Dehesa's six points. Chris De Chavez and Chico Lanete each contributed four markers.

Zamboanga City claims the PhP 100,000 prize for clinching the title. By virtue of the incentive plan league owner Ronald Mascarinas put in place for teams to help Zamboanga City with their Olympic Qualifying Tournament preparations, Butuan City also earned P100,000 aside from their second place prize of PhP 30,000.

To get to the final, Zamboanga City dispatched Porac in the quarters and Nueva Ecija in the semis, while Butuan City dispatched Bacolod in the quarters and Zamboanga Peninsula in the semifinals.

Earning PhP 20,000 as third placers are the Rice Vanguards, who had to play the knockout rounds with only three players after an ankle injury to Juan Gomez de Liano.

In the side events for the first leg, De Chavez claimed the TM Two-Point Shootout and its PhP 10,000 cash prize, while Jesus Manay upset David Carlos to claim the TM Slam Dunk contest and its PhP 20,000 incentive.

The second leg of the President's Cup will take place on Friday inside the bubble setup at INSPIRE Sports Academy in Calamba.

The Scores:

ZAMBOANGA CITY 21 -- Munzon 12, Pasaol 6, Santillan 2, Rike 1.

BUTUAN CITY 17 -- Dehesa 6, De Chavez 4, Lanete 4, Johnson 3.