Philippines yields to Palestine; Austin injured

Game today

2:30 p.m. – Chooks To Go vs Mono Vampire-Thailand

MANILA, Philippines — Chooks To Go-Pilipinas, stymied by an injury suffered by import Isaiah Austin late in the first half, dropped an 82-89 loss to Sarreyyet Ramallah-Palestine in Day 2 of the 2017 FIBA Asia Champions Cup at the Chenzhou Sports Center in Chenzhou, China last night.

Austin was helped to their dugout at the halftime break, sat out the entire third quarter and couldn’t keep up with Palestine import Todd O’Brien in his return in the fourth.

Kiefer Ravena and Jeron Teng carried the cudgels as Team Phl rallied to within four, 69-73, from 13 points down.

But T. Habash and another Palestine import Anthony Weeden fired crucial back-to-back three-pointers to stop the Chooks To Go charge, and the Palestine squad went on to foil the Filipinos’ bid for a second straight win in the Asian inter-club event.

Weeden, O’Brien and Jamal Abu Shamala combined for 63 points as Sarreyyet Ramallah bounced back from a 100-102 heartbreaking loss to Mono Vampire of Thailand Friday.

Ravena top scored with 24 points, including three triples, while Teng contributed 18 for the Filipinos who failed to make a follow-up to their 73-65 triumph over BC Astana of Kazakhstan the previous night.

The Kazakhs caught up with the Filipinos and the Palestinians at 1-1 on a 66-65 win over PetroChimi of Iran.

The scores:

Palestine 89 – Weeded 22, Abu Shamala 21, O’Brien 20, Habash 14, Sakakini 10, ElDiraoui 2, Sahwani 0, Habash 0.

Chooks To Go 82 – Ravena 24, Teng Jeron 18, Austin 13, Jose 8, Cruz 8, Revilla 6, Manuel 3, Tamsi 2, Torres 0, Teng Jeric 0.

Quarterscores: 21-13, 41-33, 64-54, 89-82