For the second straight year, the Philippines failed in its bid to advance to the quarterfinal round but the Chooks To Go-backed national team ended its campaign with a big win over El Salvador, 21-14, in the 2017 FIBA 3X3 World Cup Tuesday in Nantes, France.
The team finished the event with a 2-2 record, not enough for the Nationals to secure a spot in the quarterfinal stage.
Slovenia, which earlier handed the Nationals a 21-14 beating, topped the group elims with a perfect 4-0 record.
Also advancing was host France which wound up second with a 3-1 mark.
Aside from its victory against El Salvador, the national team also won against seventh-seeded Romania (21-15) Monday morning but lost to No. 10 France (22-11) that same day.
Last year in Guangzhou, China, the Mac Belo-led national team failed to advance to the quarterfinals as it finished with a 2-2 card. It was only last year that the Filipinos started competing in the event, which formally began in 2012.
Meanwhile, Kobe Paras didn’t make it to the semifinals of the Slam Dunk competition after he finished fifth with 50 points in the six-man event behind American Chris Staples (57pts), Poland’s Rafal Lipinski (56pts), Ukraine’s Vadim Piddubchenko (56pts) and American Jordan Southerland (54pts).
Led by 6-foot-5 Anze Srebovt, the Slovenians grabbed an early 14-4 advantage as they imposed their will inside aside from throwing the Filipinos out of their comfort zone with their sticky defense.
