PBA . IMAGES
NTD – TNT has confirmed its class in the 3×3 PBA tournament for the third time by winning the second leg live on Sunday at the Ynares Center here.
Tropang Giga relied on another fiery shootout by Almond Vosotros and the valuable contributions of Samboy De Leon, Lervin Flores, and Ping Exciminiano to beat first-time finalists Terrafirma Dyip, 21-15, and dominated stage 4 of the indie tournament.
It was the third stage championship at this convention for TNT, who also ran away with the title in the opening match.
Only Meralco overcame TNT’s dominance by winning Leg 2.
TNT also became the second team to win the overall championship after Limitless App in the first game.
“Hello my players. I can’t stress that enough because three championships in four legs,” said winning coach Mau Belen. “Really, everyone just wants to win.”
Tropang Giga won the top prize of 100,000 P, bringing their total prize pool to 300,000 P for the conference alone.
Vosotros finished with nine points and six rebounds, De Leon with five, including a knockdown that won the championship, while Flores and Exciminiano took the rest of TNT.
Ironically, TNT lost the first set of the pool game to Barangay Ginebra, 21-15, but came back with two straight wins over Master Sardines (22-12) and Pioneer Pro Tibay (21- 14) to advance to the knockout round.
Tropang Giga then took their match up a notch in the knockout stages, beating Meralco in the quarterfinals, 21-14, and then knocking out San Miguel in the semifinals, 16-10, to make it through. into the championship round.
Terrafirma took the P50,000 runner-up title for the team’s best performance in the round.
Dyip overcame Cavitex in the quarterfinals, 22-20, and went on to survive Limitless App in a thrilling semi-final, 21-17, to arrange the final against Tropang Giga.
San Miguel took down the Limitless App, aged 21-17, to take home P30,000 in the fight for third place.
The point:
The third position
SMB (21) – Comboy 9, Bono 6, Manday 6, Gotladera 0.
Unlimited Apps (17) – Pascual 7, Tamsi 6, Salva 3, Camacho 1
Final match
TNT (21) – Vosotros 9, De Leon 5, Flores 5, Exciminiano 2.
Terrafirma (15) – Alanes 6, Taladua 4, Cachuela 3, Bulawan 2.
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