Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.NET
BOCAUE, BULACAN—Team Philippines made good on its promise to close out its Fiba 3×3 World Cup campaign with a victory after seeing its title hopes go up in smoke at Philippine Arena here Monday night.
The Filipinos took out all their frustrations on the third-seeded Russians, 19-12, to finish third in Pool C with a 2-2 record.
Still, it wasn’t enough to push them to the knockout round.
A stinging 20-19 defeat to an experienced Canada squad hours earlier snuffed out the Filipinos’ chances of finishing in the top two of their bracket.
Team PH coach Ronnie Magsanoc was apologetic after the defeat.
“We will come back and try to give these people a win,” said Magsanoc.
Two hours later, the Filipinos gifted the fans who had stayed on with a blazing performance against the Russians who, surprisingly, did not field any player in the top 100 of the world rankings.
The Canadians went on to top Pool C with an unbeaten 4-0 record, capping their assignments with an emphatic 21-4 win over Brazil to earn the right to face Pool A No. 2 The Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Mongolia, which dealt the Philippines a 21-17 loss on Saturday night, clinched the No. 2 berth in Pool C after beating Russia (21-18) and Brazil (19-16).
A quarterfinal clash against defending champion Serbia awaits the Mongolians.
The two other quarterfinal matches will feature European teams with Latvia battling Poland and Ukraine squaring off with Slovenia.