SANTA ROSA, Laguna. – Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 teams set foot here last Friday with their sights trained on a coveted outright main draw slot in the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Cebu Masters next month.
They went home crestfallen.
Cebu Chooks! and Butuan Chooks! bowed out after the group stage, while Manila Chooks! absorbed a numbing 15-17 loss to Mongolia’s Zaisan MMC Energy in the semifinals of the Chooks-to-Go International Standalone Quest at the Ayala Malls Solenad.
With the match knotted at 12-all, Ulzii-Orshikh Myagmursen scored three straight points before Manila Chooks! Henry Iloka retaliated with three in a row that kept the Filipinos within 15-16 in the last 27.0 ticks.
But playing coach Chico Lanete and his teammates could not get the job done when it mattered most.
Iloka paced Manila with 10 points.
Saitama brought down Zaisan to its knees 20-13 to bag its first major title.
The newly formed Japanese quartet banked on its size and speed to rule the one-day tilt untouchable in five games and took home $10,000.
“I said it back in 2019 and I’ll say it again, I really love the Philippines,” Japan’s No. 6 player and Tokyo Olympian Tomoya Ochiai, a member of the Tokyo Dime team that won the first Chooks-to-Go Asia Pacific Super Quest in 2019, said.
“New team, it really feels good that we were able to reach the Masters. It’s going to be exciting,” he added.
With the setback, Zaisan was relegated to the qualifying draw.
Towering center Teodor Atanasov dazzled with eight points for Saitama, while young gun Ryo Ozawa added six markers.
Ochiai and Marko Milakovic also chipped in two points each for Saitama, which led by as much as eight points with only 1:17 left to go after a nip-and-tuck affair early on.
Myagmarsuren led Zaisan with six points, while Ganbaatar Nyamdorj had five to settle for $5,000.
Saitama also whipped Zaisan 20-11 in their pool play duel.
The Japanese side held off Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy in overtime 18-16 in the other semis clash.
By reaching the final of the Level 8 FIBA 3×3 tourney, Saitama and Zaisan joined Utsunomiya, Sansar, Antwerp, Riga, Amsterdam, Jeddah, Lausanne, Omaha, Ludhiana, and Doha in the Cebu Masters set on October 1-2 at the SM Seaside.
