 |
| Pasig Chooks is heading to the playoffs. Chooks-To-Go |
By Dugout Philippines
QUEZON CITY--Joshua Munzon and Pasig Chooks saved their best for last, fending off Slovenia's Kranj, 19-15, to punch the last quarterfinal ticket in the 2019 Chooks-to-Go Manila Challenger, Saturday.
"It feels good, coming from the Qualifying Draw. Getting three out of four, it was a long day. I'm tired, we are tired. We need to get some rest," said an exhausted Joshua Munzon as Pasig needed to carve out two wins in QD B to advance to Pool D.
Wanting to give the hometown crowd something to cheer about, the duo of Munzon and Nikola Pavlovic powered Pasig to a strong 11-5 start.
Cecil Brown and Igor Tratnik tried to complete the Philippine sweep, cutting the lead down to just two, 15-17, with 35 seconds left.
Pasig dug deep, locking down on defense while Munzon and Dylan Ababou knocked down two clutch buckets to get payback from the 11-22 loss they received from the same team back in the Poitiers Challenger last July 6.
"We showed a lot of puso, showed a lot of heart. Troy [Rike - back] and Dylan [Ababou - right shoulder] are hurt but still gave everything they got, that speaks a lot about the character of this team," expressed Munzon.
Munzon had 10 points in the game built on two deuces, two free throws, and four one-pointers while Pavlovic had seven points and six boards.
Pasig will face Lyon in the quarterfinals at 1:10 p.m.
The other quarterfinals brackets in this tournament that will see the champion take home USD 15,000 and a ticket to the 2019 Jeddah Masters are Riga vs Melbourne (12:05 p.m.), Ulaanbaatar vs Antwerp (12:30), and Gagarin vs Humpolec (1:35 p.m.).
The Scores:
Pasig 19 - Munzon 10, Pavlovic 7, Ababou 1, Rike 1.
Kranj 15 - Brown 6, Tratnik 5, Julević 3, Jersin 1.
Follow the site on Twitter: @DugoutPH
.JPG)
.jpg)
