MANILA – Zamboanga City bounced back from a stinging early exit in the previous leg to claim the championship in the fourth stage of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 President's Cup at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna on Tuesday night.
Two nights after getting shockingly booted in the quarterfinals of Leg 3, Zamboanga City took all the marbles again, beating eventual Leg 3 ruler Butuan in the Leg 4 finals, 21-20.
“When we lost that game, I felt like the world was crashing down,” Troy Rike said during the Sunday night elimination. “But I just reminded myself that if we take care of business, we’re right, we need to be even after a bump on the road.”
And his team just did in the nick of time.
Zamboanga City was on the verge of hitting another huge bump after back-to-back deuces from Chris Dechavez blew the team's 20-16 lead as Butuan crawled back to force a 20-all tie.
Dechavez, however, failed to check Santi Santillan, who was all alone for the offensive rebound off a Joshua Munzon missed two, forcing Dechavez to foul Santillan while the latter went for the putback with 2:34 remaining.
The foul eventually decided the contest as Santillan drained the free throw for the match point.
Joshua Munzon finished with 11 points to lead Zamboanga City, which won a total of PHP110,000 for not ruling the leg but also winning the fastest game award after needing just a shade more than five minutes to depose Pagadian, 21-7, in pool play.
Santillan added six points, while Alvin Pasaol got three and Rike made one.
Dechavez totaled 12 markers, while Karl Dehesa and JR Alabanza each got four for Butuan City, which despite the runner-up finish got PHP100,000 as well for being Zamboanga City's challenger in the finals.
The five-leg conference will culminate with the grand finals on Friday.
Zamboanga City and Butuan City, being the top two seeds after Leg 4, will gain a first-round bye along with Nueva Ecija and Pasig.
The other eight teams in the field will face off in a knockout playoff phase to determine the last four teams in the quarterfinals.
The grand champion will take home PHP1 million. (PNA)
