Team Pasig and Team Balanga of Bataan made it to the quarterfinals of the of the 2019 FIBA World Tour Masters on Saturday evening in Doha.
But the two powerhouse teams that they met kept them from advancing any further after Pasig took a 15-21 loss to Riga Ghetto of Latvia and Balanga absorbed a 9-21 setback to world no. 1 Liman of Serbia.
The defeats came after Balanga defeated world no. 3 Riga, 19-17, and no. 15 Moscow Inanomo, 20-19, to top Pool C.
Both Pasig and Balanga swept their pool assignments to advance to the knockout quarterfinals of this global meet as two of the four seeded squads.
Pasig made it in Pool A after it prevailed over Katara, 21-14, and Liman, 19-16.
Riga Ghetto eventually won its first Masters' crown after defeating Liman, 15-14, in a tense final.
Karlis Lasmanis, scored a game-high 8 points for Riga, hitting clutch buckets that gave him the MVP honors.
Despite the losses, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 commissioner Eric Altamirano remained proud of the stand put up by the two Philippine squads as the teams that bested them eventually moved on to the final.
"We made a statement that we belong here in the World Tour," he said.
In reaching the finals, Liman snapped the 35-game winning streak of Novi Sad, 20-17, during the semifinals.
For sweeping Pool A, the Pasig quartet of Taylor Statham, Joshua Munzon, Angelo Tsagarakis, and Nikola Pavlovic ended up as fifth to bring home US$5,000.
Balanga's Travis Franklin, Alvin Pasaol, Karl Dehesa, and Santi Santillan finished in sixth place in the 12-team meet.