English
A fiery match once again set ablaze in cold Antipolo’s Ynares Sport Center. TNT displays its dominance repeatedly in the PBA 3×3 Third Conference by winning its second consecutive leg championship at Ynares Center on Sunday.
TNT’s Tropang Giga used another hot shooting performance from Almond Vosotros, as well as contributions from Samboy De Leon, Lervin Flores, and Ping Exciminiano, to defeat Terrafirma Dyip 21 to 15 and win the fourth leg of the solo tournament.
Tropang Giga won their third leg title of the conference after bagging the win for the title opening match. So far by winning the second leg, Meralco was the only team to break TNT’s supremacy.
After Limitless App in the first conference, TNT became only the second team to win back to back leg titles.
“Hats off to my players. I couldn’t emphasize that enough because three championships in four legs,” shard the winning coach Mau Belen. “Really, everyone just wants to win.”
The Tropang Giga took home the top prize of P100,000, raising their total prize money for the conference to P300,000.
Vosotros finished marvelously with nine points and six rebounds, De Leon had five, including the championship-clinching deuce. Flores and Exciminiano rounded out TNT’s scoring, smashing the cherry on top for the win.
On the contrary, TNT lost its opening game in pool play, 21 to 15, against Barangay Ginebra, but came back to win two straight games against Master Sardines 22 to 12 and Pioneer Pro Tibay 21 to 14 to proceed to the knockout stage.
On a step up, Tropang Giga then blazed through their game in the playoffs, defeating Meralco 21 to 14 in the quarterfinals and San Miguel 16 to 10 in the semifinals to get to the championship round.
Terrafirma was awarded the runner-up prize of P50,000 for the team’s best half court match.
The Terrafirma Dyip defeated Cavitex 22 to 20 in the quarterfinals, then beat Limitless App 21 to 17 in the semifinals to set up a finals duel with the Tropang Giga.
In the battle for P30,000, the San Miguel Beermen trounced the Limitless Appmasters 21 to 17 securing a third placer spot.
Summary of Scores:
Third place
• SMB scores (21) – Comboy 9, Bono 6, Manday 6, Gotladera 0. • Limitless App scores (17) – Pascual 7, Tamsi 6, Salva 3, Camacho 1
Finals• TNT scores (21) – Vosotros 9, De Leon 5, Flores 5, Exciminiano 2. • Terrafirma scores (15) – Alanes 6, Taladua 4, Cachuela 3, Bulawan 2.
