Santillan comes through for Zamboanga in the Chooks to Go 3×3 Pilipinas Leg 4. CHOOKS PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Family’s Brand Sardines-Zamboanga City finished on top anew after escaping Butuan City to rule the fourth leg of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 President’s Cup on Tuesday at Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.
It was a dramatic win for Zamboanga City, which needed the heroics of Santi Santillan to weather a late storm by Butuan City, 21-20 (7:27).
Santillan won it at the free-throw line when he was fouled after securing the offensive rebound off a miss by Joshua Munzon.
“We had a bad start in our first game so we needed to adjust during our next games,” Santillan said in Filipino. “We just gave our 100 percent after that.”
Zamboanga City clinched its third win in four legs after a shock exit in Leg 3 where it got bounced in the quarterfinals by Pasig.
“When we lost that game, I felt like the world was crashing down,” said big man Troy Rike.“But I just reminded myself that if we take care of business, we’re right we need to be even after a bump on the road.”
Zamboanga City, the top seed in Friday’s Grand Finals, pocketed another P100,000.
Munzon led Zamboanga City with nine points while Santillan added six points.
Chris De Chavez topscored with 11 points, including back-to-back long bombs that knotted the count at 20.