Leonard “Santi” Santillan of Wilkins-Balanga tries to get past a defender in a Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas Patriot’s Cup. | Chooks-to-Go photo
Cebu City, Philippines—Cebuano Santi Santillan will not be playing for Wilkins-Balanga in the Chooks to Go Pilipinas Patriot’s Cup Grand Finals on Saturday, July 27, 2019, after his mother team, the Bataan Risers, did not allow him to owing to a scheduling conflict.
The Risers have a game scheduled on the same day in the 2019-20 MPBL Lakan Cup as they face Datu Cup champions Go For Gold-San Juan Knights in Albay, Bicol.
Bataan is currently sitting at eighth place in the Northern Division with a 3-3 (win-loss) record.
Santillan, a former University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancer, was pivotal in Wilkins-Balanga’s conquest in the fourth leg.
The product of De La Salle scored six points in their 21-20 stunner of leg two champions VetHealth-Delhi 3BL last July 19. He followed it up with a seven-point performance in their 21-17 win over Gold’s Gym-Pasig Kings to win the tour.
Wilkins-Balanga enters the knockout Grand Finals as the second seed. They are tied with Phenom-Basilan with 320 points but had fewer points scored than the Steel.
The Pure will face the winner of the Zamboanga Valientes-Thunder Pateros Hunters first-round game in the quarterfinals of this tournament that has P1,000,00 awarded to the champion.
The team that tallies the most points will also book a spot in the 2019 FIBA 3X3 Jeddah World Tour Masters on October 18. /bmjo