Cebu Chooks’ Mac Tallo goes for a layup during their game against Zavkhan MMC Energy in the 2022 FIBA 3×3 Penang Challenger. | Photo from Chooks-to-Go
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Chooks 3×3 squad cruised to the knockout stage of the 2022 FIBA 3×3 Penang Challenger after defeating Mongolia’s Zavkhan MMC Energy, 18-15, on Saturday, September 10, 2022 at Queensbay Mall in Penang, Malaysia.
With the victory, Cebu Chooks dealt Zavkhan its second loss in Pool A as the Mongolian squad also bowed down to Serbia’s Liman earlier in the day, 21-11 (8:11). Cebu and Liman will play against each other for the top seed in the pool later in the day at 6:50 PM.
“It’s a good start for our Cebu Chooks team and for Coach Chico (Lanete). They showed great heart in overcoming a slow start against their archrivals,” said Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascariñas.
Zavkhan raced to a 5-0 lead to start the game before Cebu was able to knot things up at 8-all.
Then Cebuano Mac Tallo took charge for the Cebu Chooks team. The country’s top 3×3 player buried five deuces in the contest to keep Zavkhan at bay.
Tallo wound up with 12 points while Brandon Ramirez and Zach Huang added four and two points, respectively.
Avirmed Lhagvaa paced Zavkhan with six points.
“Kahit nakapasok na kami sa next round, gagawin namin ang lahat against Liman,” said Cebu Chooks head coach Lanete.
(Even if we had entered the next round, we will do our best against Liman.)
“Malalaman namin kung nasaan na kami sa larong ‘yun,” he said.
(We will know then where we are in this game.)
The FIBA 3×3 Penang Challenger is a qualifier for the 2022 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Paris Masters.
It also has a US$40,000 prize pool with the top six teams going “in the money” (ITM).
The Scores:
Cebu 18 – Tallo 12, Ramirez 4, Huang 2, Tolentino 0.
Zavkhan 15 – Lhagvaa 6, Bayarsaikhan 4, Tsermaa 3, Khureltogoo 2.
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