JAY R. GOTERA
Saudi Gazette
MANILA — The Calvin Abueva-led Manila North team put up a valiant fight before yielding to defending champion and top-seeded NoviSad Al-Wahda, 21-13, in a knockout quarterfinal match Saturday to crash out of the 2015 Fiba 3x3 World Tour in Abu Dhabi.
Novi Sad Al-Wahda of UAE eventually won the championship, beating Kranj of Slovenia, 17-14. The 12th seed Manila North’s quarterfinal loss came less than 24 hours after Abueva and company scored a 16-14 upset win over the fourth-seeded Doha of Qatar.
The Filipinos fought fiercely against a much tougher rival Saturday, giving the defending champion a scare before eventually succumbing to their much bigger opponents.
After NoviSad seized a quick 4-1, Manila North battled its way back in a highly physical contest. Troy Rosario was hit hard in the face by a NoviSad player resulting in two free throws which he converted.
Vic Manuel then scored on a putback before Abueva exploded with a thunderous dunk to the delight of the Filipino crowd to tie the game at 9-all. But NoviSad, led by the tournament’s highest scorer Domovic Bulut, refused to be cowed as they grabbed back the lead, 13-9.
The Filipinos kept fighting back, but the defending champion managed to hold them back. Leading 19-13, NoviSad finished off Manila North with two free throws to seal the win with still two minutes left in the contest.
It was the second victory by NoviSad over Manila North in the last two months as they also defeated the Abueva-led Philippine team, 21-14, during the finals of the meet’s Manila leg held in August.
Manila North finished in sixth place in the two-day tournament, the same feat achieved by Terrence Romeo and the Manila West team during last year’s finals of the World Tour staged in Sendai, Japan.
NoviSad had a perfect 5-0 record in the tournament with Bulut leading all scorers with 42 points and winning MVP honors. He scored a game-high eight points in the championship game against Kranj. NoviSad took home the US $30,000 winning prize and an automatic berth for the FIBA 3x3 All Stars while Kranj won US $20,000.
Third-place NY Harlem (USA) earned US $16,000. Trbovlje got $12,000 after finishing fourth. Ljubljana (Slovenia) was rewarded with US $10,000 for its fifth place and Manila North (Philippines) was the sixth and last team to earn prize money (US $8,000) at the event.
