Bigger, stronger Slovenians end Manila West title hopes

SENDAI, Japan – Kranj of Slovenia proved too experienced for Manila West Sunday, holding the Filipinos without a basket in the last five minutes of a 21-12 victory in advancing to the semis of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Finals at the Xebio Sports Arena.

Later in the day, however, Kranj ran into red-hot Novi Sad, the No. 1 seed, and lost convincingly, 22-13, while Saskatoon of Canada set up a championship clash with the Serbians by upending Bucharest, 19-16.

In the anti-climactic final, Novi Sad demonstrated why it is the top-ranked team in the world by outclassing Saskatoon, 21-11, to earn $20,000 and a ticket to the FIBA 3x3 All-Stars in Doha, Qatar in December. The Canadians, perhaps the most physically prepared team in the tournament, was taken out of the championship early as the Serbians came up with their best performance in the two-day event.

Unlike Bucharest, Kranj didn’t go to the Manila West game with an air of complacency.

Seeded third in the tournament, the Slovenians, who swept Pool C to draw Manila West, the No. 2 team from Pool B, as quarterfinal opponent, displayed a decisive familiarity of the demands of the fledgling FIBA event as they took control when the Filipinos began fading defensively in the last half of the match.

The quartet of KG Canaleta, Aldrech Ramos, Rey Guevarra and Terrence Romeo failed to score in the final 5:13that negated their effort to claw back at 14-12 after trailing, 11-6.

Guevarra, the Meralco Bolts forward, came off the bench to score six straight points with two long 2-pointers to put pressure on Kranj (pronounced: Kran-i), the runnerup in the Lausanne Masters.

But Manila West, which beat Sao Paolo on its first game, fizzled out after that.

A step slow on defense against an aggressive team clearly attuned to the nuances of the international 3x3 game, No. 10 Manila West, which lost to No. 2 Bucharest Saturday, 15-13, also found trouble managing the 10-second shot clock and getting off shots against the taller and heavier Slovenians.

“Ang laki na, ang bibigat pa,” said Canaleta, now with the NLEX Road Warriors, as he got tossed around under the basket by 6-foot-8 Jure Erzen or 6-foot-5 Mensud Julevic when he was not sprinting to put a hand on hotshot Dario Krejic who accounted for six of Kranj’s last eight points.

“Ang lalakas pang mangapit,” said Romeo, who tied the score, 3-all, and put Manila West in the thick of the fight, 6-5 and 8-6, before the Slovenians took advantage of two defensive lapses by the Filipinos to score three quick points and open up an 11-6 advantage.

"Iba rin yung galaw nila, pang 3-on-3 talaga; alam mong ensayado sila ng husto," said Guevarra.

“It was a learning experience for all of us,” said SBP executive director Sonny Barrios, head of the Philippine team which included Under-18 players Dino San Juan of La Salle-Greenhills and JP Cauilan and Chino Mosqueda of National University who played a number of 3x3 matches with different Japanese teams as part of FIBA’s 3x3 program.

“SBP intends to expand FIBA’s 3x3 involvement in our grassroots program and we hope to use the World Tour as springboard,” Barrios added.

Romeo would later return for the final of the shootout contest after hitting his first nine shots in the qualifying round. But he turned cold as the weather in the championship where he converted only three, with Novi Sad’s Dejan Majstorovic ruling the event with seven points.

In the slam dunk competition, pro dunker Rafal Lipinski sailed over a car parked in front of the basket and a man standing beside it and threw down a tomahawk slam to win the highlight event hands down.

Bucharest went on to whip No. 9 Jakarta, 21-8, to move to the semifinal round along with No. 1 seed Novi Sad of Serbia, which survived a virtual rugby match with No. 4 Trbovlje of Slovenia, 15-13, and No. 5 Saskatoon of Canada, which demolished Denver, 21-3.