MANILA Chooks TM suffered a heartbreaking 16-21 (7:07) loss to world No. 10 Edmonton to close out its 2021 FIBA 3×3 Montreal Masters Pool D on Sunday at the Place des Festivals in Canada.
The Manila-based team bowed out of the competition at 10th place along with the US’s Omaha. Both squads finished with identical 0-2 won-lost record with a point average of 13.5. Home team Old Montreal finished 12th and last.
Coming off a 9-21 loss to world No. 8 Antwerp earlier in the day in the maximum level tournament, Mac Tallo willed Manila Chooks TM with booming shots and daredevil drives to keep pace with the taller Canadians.
Tallo had a game-high 11 points built on three deuces and four one-point shots.
But fouls plagued Manila Chooks TM in the endgame.
After a Ross Bekkering bucket that broke the deadlock, Zach Huang committed Manila Chooks TM’s seventh foul that put Steve Sir to the stripe for two. The former World Cup shootout champion, who was playing his last Masters, knocked down the two freebies with ease.
Alex Johnson then converted on the game-winner with 2:53 left.
“We have no excuses,” said Manila Chooks TM head trainer Aldin Ayo. “We weren’t unable to execute what we planned in practice. “We as coaches are accountable, especially with a result like this.”
Dennis Santos and Mark Yee added two points each while Huang chipped in a point.
Guard Adika Peter-McNeilly had seven points to lead Edmonton, which along with Antwerp advanced to the next round.
In Manila Chooks TM’s first game, Tallo had five points. Yee and Huang finished with three points while Dennis Santos went scoreless.
Belgium’s top player Nick Celis, who stands 6-foot-5, had nine points for Antwerp, going 7-of-8 from the field. Six-foot-six Thierry Marien added eight points as he went 6-of-6 from the field.
Antwerp is composed of Belgium’s national team that finished in fourth place in the Tokyo Olympics.