MANILA Chooks! now focuses on next month’s World Tour Manila Masters following the all-Filipino team’s promising performance in the recent FIBA 3×3 Ulaanbaatar Super Quest, according to head trainer Chico Lanete.
“We need to focus more on finishing the game,” Lanete said. “There will be adjustments especially now that we have two new players—Paul (Desiderio) and CJ (Payawal).”
Desiderio and Payawal debuted in the international 3×3 stage in Mongolia alongside veterans Mac Tallo and Brandon Ramirez and finished seventh in the 12-team tournament dominated by with Japan’s Utsunomiya BREX at the expense of Futian of China.
Manila Chooks! closed out its Ulaanbaatar campaign with a 15-21 to world No. 9 Sansar MMC Energy of Mongolia last Sunday.
“We will make sure we are ready for the Manila Masters, our home court,” Lanete said.
Chooks-to-Go president Ronald Mascarinas is convinced the team will fare well in Manila.
“Our team has shown significant improvement in every tournament they compete in,” Mascarinas said. “That close quarterfinals loss to world No. 9 Sansar showed that with more exposure at high level tournaments, we can match the firepower of the top 3×3 teams in the world.”
Desiderio, who was under the weather in the tournament, led Manila Chooks! against the Mongolians with eight points with Tallo adding six points.
“Playing in an international tournament is a good opportunity to assess my skills and see the team’s capability to compete with our international counterparts,” Desiderio said. “It’s been a very fulfilling experience and a learning opportunity for me, coming from an ACL injury, I need to work on my conditioning.