Platinum lives up to favorites tag, sweeps PBA 3x3 Day 1 games

JR Alabanza is all alone for a layup. PBA Images

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--To the surprise of possibly no one, Platinum Karaoke is as good as advertised.

Platinum exerted its might on Day 1 of the PBA 3x3 event at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig after sweeping its scheduled assignments on Saturday.

The quartet of Karl Dehesa, Chris Dechavez, JR Alabanza, and Yutien Andrada even did the trick in style, going for the 21-point finishes in all of its three games.

Platinum first mauled Zamboanga, 21-7, with Dechavez, who tallied 13 points, outscoring the entire Zamboanga squad, which only had Mac-Mac Cardona (six points) and JR Cawaling (one) as the scorers.

Platinum then turned back Limitless, 21-16, behind a more balanced scoring that saw Andrada finally scoring his first three points in 3x3 play.

Platinum capped the day with a 21-14 win over Purefoods with Alabanza leading the scorers with seven markers.

TNT also went 3-0 in Pool A play for Saturday after ripping Limitless (21-9), Purefoods (20-16), and Zamboanga (21-18) in order.

Purefoods played all its pool stage games on Saturday, first beating Limitless, 17-15, and later Zamboanga, 21-8, before conceding to Platinum and TNT.

The Appmasters would still end the day with a win, beating the Valientes, 21-19, leaving the latter winless in all their four games in the first leg.

Platinum and TNT will face off a 2:40 p.m. Sunday to determine which team will take the top seed for Pool A.

In Pool B action, Terrafirma stunned Ginebra, 21-13, only to bow to Meralco, 16-21, to settle for a 1-1 record entering its Sunday game against Sista.

Earlier Saturday, the Gin Kings got past the Super Sealers, 21-16, and eventually tallied a 1-1 slate so far as well.

The Bolts finished the day at 2-0 after edging the Super Sealers, 22-17, keeping the latter also without a win.

In the only Pool C games that took place, San Miguel edged both NorthPort and CAVITEX with similar 21-17, scorelines to go 2-0.

But due to Pioneer's forfeitures owing to the lack of medical clearance, NorthPort and CAVITEX will each enter Sunday at 1-1.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno