SANTA ROSA ˗ Cebu Chooks! outsteadied Manila Chooks! in a tight finale, 20-18, to rule the 2022 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Quest 2.0 before an appreciative crowd at the Ayala Malls Solenad herem, Sunday night.
The country’s top-ranked 3×3 team needed help from Lady Luck once more like in the quarters, most especially in the endgame en route to catching the last flight to the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Hong Kong Masters on Nov. 26-27.
Cebu joins Serbia’s Ub and Liman; Belgium’s Antwerp; Latvia’s Riga; the Netherlands’ Amsterdam; Austria’s Vienna; Lithuania’s Šakiai Gulbelė; Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy; China’s Beijing; Chinese-Taipei’s Kaohsiung; Indonesia’s Yogyakarta Gojek; and four Hong Kong teams in the tournament that is the last stop before the Abu Dhabi Final.
Cebu needs to win the tournament to advance to Abu Dhabi.
Coming off a rough run in the Riyadh Masters, Mac Tallo and the rest of the quartet will also take home P100,000 in ruling the Level 7 FIBA 3×3 Event.
“‘Yung No .1 na title, pwedeng makuha ng kahit sino. Pero ‘yung championship mahirap makuha,” said the country’s No. 1 3×3 player. “We redeemed ourselves from our disappointing losses back in the Riyadh Masters.”
Tallo led Cebu with nine points, including back-to-back deuces that pulled his side within two points of clinching the match, 19-12, with 2:10 to play.
The crew aimed for the kill afterwards but struggled to do so, with Dennis Santos and Dave Ando leading the rally for Manila.
Mike Nzeusseu actually put Cebu on the hill through a slam, 20-16, with 1:15 left, but the opposition kept the fight. Import Henry Iloka scored back-to-back hits to cut the deficit to just two points nearing the last eight seconds.
