Gold’s Gym-Pasig wins Cebu leg of Chooks-to-Go 3×3 basketball competition. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Gold’s Gym-Pasig claimed the Cebu leg of the 2019 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Patriot’s Cup’s presented by Coca-Cola after they crushed the Phenom-Basilan Steel, 21-15, in the finals on Sunday, June 16, 2019, at the SM Seaside Cebu.
The win pocketed the quartet of Taylor Statham, Joshua Munzon, Dylan Ababou, and Nikola Pavlovic a cool P100,000 in the first of this five-leg competition.
“It’s great. Honestly this is what our team needed,” said Statham after Pasig went winless in the Kunshan and Tinkoff Moscow Challengers during the off-season. Statham was unstoppable all game long, finishing with 13 points.
With Pasig clinging to a 12-10 lead midway through the contest, Statham took charge as he went on a personal 5-2 run against Basilan. The highlight of the rally was a between-the-leg pass by Joshua Munzon to a cutting Statham.
Munzon and import Nikola Pavlovic added four points each for Pasig.
Basilan import Marcus Hammond paced Phenom-Basilan with 11 points as Franky Johnson, Roosevelt Adams, and Troy Rike were shut down by the swarming Pasig defense.
To make it to the finals, Pasig needed to defeat World No. 14 VetHealth-Delhi 3BL, 21-16.
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Basilan, on the other hand, swept Pool C that featured the MiGuard-Vigan Wolves and hosts Max4-Birada Cebu. Behind Fil-Am guard Franky Johnson’s 11-point explosion, Phenom-Basilan stunned Alvin Pasaol and the Wilkin’s Balanga Pure in the semis, 21-19.
David Carlos took down the Coca-Cola Slam Dunk competition while VetHealth-Delhi’s Kiran Shastri outsniped Cebu’s Mark Panerio in the finals of the Coca-Cola Two-point shootout, 14-9./dbs