Pasig, Balanga lose in FIBA 3x3 World Tour

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine teams Pasig and Balanga fell to fancied teams Riga Ghetto and Liman, respectively, Saturday in the quarterfinals to kiss its chances goodbye in the 2019 FIBA World Tour Masters in Doha, Qatar.

The Pasig squad of Taylor Statham, Joshua Munzon, Angelo Tsagarakis, and Nikola Pavlovic went down to World No. 3 Riga, 15-21, while the Balanga team of Travis Franklin, Alvin Pasaol, Karl Dehesa, and Santi Santillan succumbed to World No. 1 Liman, 9-21.

Pasig wound up fifth while Balanga sixth, not bad for the Chooks to Go-backed teams that made heads turn by sweeping Pool A and Pool B including shock wins over Liman, 19-16, and Riga, 19-17, respectively.

"We made a statement that we belong here in the World Tour," said Eric Altamarino, commissioner of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 event where Pasig and Balanga gained spots to the first of a 12-stage Tour.

"Seeing the level of play here and knowing that we can keep up with the world's best, it will definitely make our players hungrier to get back in the next legs of the World Tour," he added.

In the dunk event, David Carlos’s three-dunk effort that was highlighted by a scorpion dunk over Pasaol wasn’t enough to beat eventual winner Vadim Miller.

Pasig will move on to the Kunshan Challenger from May 18 to 19, a qualifier to the Chengdu Masters.