Manila Chooks gets early boot in FIBA 3x3 Abu Dahbi tourney

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Chooks TM absorbed an early exit in the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Masters, bowing to powerhouse clubs Liman of Serbia and Amsterdam of the Netherlands on Saturday.

The Philippine club folded to world No. 4 Liman, 21-11, before tasting a 22-8 blowout defeat against No. 5 Amsterdam to crash out of contention in the Pool D preliminaries.

"Of course, we're disappointed. Even if we did not have Mike (Nzeusseu), it's no excuse for the performance that we had,” said head trainer Aldin Ayo.

Manila Chooks TM played without the Cameroonian reinforcement due to his hand injury and was simply outclassed with guard Mac Tallo serving as the only bright spot.

Tallo had 11 of the squad’s combined 19 points in the group phase as Chico Lanete, Zach Huang and Mark Yee struggled against seasoned and taller counterparts led by world No. 4 player Mihailo Vasic of Liman and No. 12 Dimeo van der Horst of Amsterdam.

Manila Chooks TM finished 11th out of the 14 squads in the maximum level 3x3 tournament ahead of the Netherlands’ Utrecht, Japan’s Minakami and host Abu Dhabi.

The squad also suffered an early elimination in the Montreal Masters last month with losses against Antwerp of Belgium and Edmonton of Canada.

Manila Chooks TM is expected to be back in the FIBA 3x3 circuit next year after its lineup assessment with consecutive exits in Montreal and Abu Dhabi.