With the its back against the wall, Manila North was fortunate to have “The Beast” on its side.
Calvin Abueva steered Manila North to a 16-14 victory over Doha of Qatar to advance to the knockout stages of the 2015 Fiba 3×3 World Tour at Corniche in Abu Dhabi on Thursday (Friday Manila time).
The Alaska forward scored seven points in the big victory, which forced a three-way tie in Pool D with Manila North, Doha, and Kranj of Slovenia all holding a 1-1 slate.
But Kranj and Manila North got the tickets to advance to the group stages with the quotient system used as the tiebreaker.
A tall task awaits for the squad composed of Abueva, Vic Manuel, Troy Rosario, and Karl Dehesa as Manila North faces defending World Tour champs and top-ranked 3×3 team in the world Novi Sad Al Wahda of UAE in the quarterfinals.
It is actually a rematch of the Manila Masters Finals. The two teams first crossed paths back in a heated affair back in August.