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MANILA, Philippines – Pasig TNT failed to advance to the main draw of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour after splitting its matches on Saturday, July 8 in Macau.
The Philippine squad – made up of Almond Vosotros, Gryann Mendoza, Ping Exciminiano, and Adeshokan Odu – fell to Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy, 21-14, then bounced back with a 21-19 overtime win over Qatar’s Doha Expo.
But the 1-1 record wasn’t enough to propel the Filipinos to the next round as Asian powerhouse Ulaanbaatar wound up topping the qualifying draw at 2-0 after also downing Doha, 20-17.
The Filipinos put up a fight early, even leading against an Ulaanbaatar squad that paraded top-ranked player Delgernyam Davaasambuu, No. 3 Otgonjargal Tsogt, plus a pair of reinforcements in 3×3 legend Steve Sir of Canada and Marko Dugosija of Montenegro.
But after a 12-12 deadlock, Ulaanbaatar dropped six unanswered points to pull away from Pasig TNT, 18-12, on the way to a commanding triumph.
Showing a sense of urgency in its next match, the Mau Belen-coached Philippine squad turned a 12-11 edge into a seemingly insurmountable 19-11 gap after five straight points from Exciminiano and a two-pointer from Odu.
Doha, however, regrouped by forcing Pasig TNT to take outside shots while stringing together eight straight baskets to force overtime, 19-19.
As has been the case for TNT both in the PBA 3×3 and other international contests, Vosotros came through the clutch and sank a two-pointer, 21-19, to seal the win for the Filipinos in extra time.
Both Pasig TNT (1-1) and Doha Expo (0-2) bowed out as Ulaanbaatar (2-0) claimed the last remaining spot in the main draw.
Pasig TNT had earned an invitation to the Macau tournament after reaching the semifinals of the FIBA 3×3 Penang Challenger last June. – Rappler.com
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