Manila Chooks TM’s Joshua Munzon gets off a shot vs Lusail. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Manila Chooks TM failed to advance to knockout stage after losing two games in the group -phase of the 2020 Fiba 3×3 Doha World Tour Masters Friday ay Al Gharafa Sports Complex in Qatar.
The Philippine representatives fell to world no.1 Liman 15-22 (7:38) in its first game and failed to secure the victory against home team Lusail, 14-19.
Lusail’s victory was considered an upset as the Doha team is unranked but it had 6-foot-10 giant Souley Ndour who had his way underneath with 10 points and seven rebounds against Manila.
Chooks TM’s smaller size, with Troy Rike the tallest at 6-foot-8, proved to be disadvantageous with Lusail fielding in 6-foot-7 Senegalese Ousseynou Mbow, 6-foot-6 Greek Kostas Vasileiadis, and 6-foot-5 Qatari Hamza Maher.
“No excuses,” said Joshua Munzon after the loss to Lusail.
Liman swept Pool A with its two wins over Lusail (21-8) and Manila.
The world no.1 team, however, had to quell Chooks TM’s rally in their match when Munzon rallied Manila from a 5-12 deficit to get to within one, 13-14, with 4:16 left in the game.
Liman eventually turned to 6-foot-6 big men Mihailo Vasic and Stefan Kojic, who had seven points apiece, to secure the win.
Alvin Pasaol struggled throughout the tournament with just six points in total for the two games while Santillan and Ride accumulated four and two points, respectively.