Former La Salle Green Archer Leonardo Santillan Jr. provided the big baskets at in the final minute to lift the Bataan Risers to a 19-18 win over the Pasig Grindhouse Kings last Saturday at the SM Megamall Events Center.
Santillan drove past Arvin Tolentino with 29.8 seconds left, handing the Risers the first leg crown of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 President’s Cup.
“It was a hard fought game. Maganda talaga ang 3×3. Sobrang intense,” said Risers coach Jonas Villanueva.
The Risers never allowed the Kings to score again in the remaining time with Dylan Ababou and Taylor Statham bungling their attempts before game ended.
“Intense ang finals. Natapilok pa nga ako. Buti naman at naka-recover din,” said Santillan, now playing for the Marineros in the PBA D-League.
Alvin Pasaol and Santillan powered the Risers with seven points apiece as they completed a four-game sweep of the eliminations.
The Risers first beat the Zark’s-Quezon City Jawbreakers, 21-14, in the Pool D eliminations, before prevailing over the Bacoor Strikers, 21-12.
In the semifinals, the Risers earned a finals berth following their 21-17 triumph over the Valenzuela Classics.
A pair of outside shots from Pasaol and Santillan in the last 4:11 allowed the Risers to move away, 13-9.
They then took a 16-11 advantage off a pair of freebies from Pasaol.
But Statham kept the Grindhouse from folding with his attacks, before Joshua Munzon gave the Kings the lead, 18-17, with a booming long shot in the final 55 second.
Santillan, however, had his way inside against Troy Rike for freebie, 18-all, with 37.4 seconds left.
Sean Manganti chipped in five points, for the Risers, who bagged the P100,000 cash prize courtesy of MLV Accounting RPS Zamboanga.
It was a successful inaugural staging for Chooks-to-Go president and league owner Ronald Mascarinas and commissioner Eric Altamirano, who both raised the curtain on the first-of-its-kind 3×3 league in the country.
Also gracing the event were former Gilas Pilipinas head coaches Tab Baldwin and Chot Reyes, ambassadors Kobe Paras, Kai Sotto, Terrence Romeo, and Calvin Abueva, FIBA 3×3 business director Fei Gao, and FIBA Oceania and Singapore executive director David Crocker.
Paras later ruled the Gameville Dunk Contest with a sick one-handed tomahawk jam over four slouched referees to collect 49 points from the judges. He beat NU high-flyer Daniel Chatman’s 39 points for the throne. Ababou, on the other hand, made up for Pasig Grindhouse’s runner-up finish with his Gameville Three-Point Shootout victory over Anton Asistio, 6-3.
The Scores:
BATAAN 19 – Pasaol 7, Santillan 7, Manganti 5, Asistio 0.
PASIG 18 – Ababou 7, Statham 6, Munzon 4, Rike 1.