MANILA – Sister teams Meralco Bolts and TNT Tropang Giga lead the finalists of the Philippine Basketball Association 3×3 Lakas ng Tatlo Conference Grand Finals today at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts, led by Tonino Gonzaga, Alfred Batino, Dexter Maiquez, and Maclean Sabelina, heads to the one-game conference finale as the top seed with its 420 tour points following its leg 2 championship and runner-up finishes in legs 1 and 4.
The Tropang Giga, bannered by Chris Javier, Almond Vosotros, Lervin Flores, and Samboy de Leon, matched Meralco’s tally but got the No. 2 ranking following its first leg championship and runner-up finishes in fifth and sixth leg.
Limitless Appmasters, which is spearheaded by Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Reymar Caduyac, Jorey Napoles, and Marvin Hayes, is at third spot with 361 points following their historic back-to-back victories in legs 5 and 6.
Platinum Karaoke, which is led by Chris de Chavez, Karl Dehesa, JR Alabanza and Yutien Andrada, is the fourth seed team with its 360 points following a couple of runner-up finishes.
By finishing in the top four after the six legs of PBA 3×3 competition, the Bolts, Tropang Giga, Appmasters, and the Karaoke has an outright quarterfinals round seeding.
Still playing in the one-day finale are Terrafirma Dyip, leg 4 champion Purefoods TJ Titans, Pioneer Pro Tibay, leg 3 titlist Sista Super Sealers, San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings.
The six teams, however, will figure in the preliminary round today to dispute the four remaining quarterfinal berths.
Failing to make the cut for the 10-team conference championship were CAVITEX Braves, NorthPort Batang Pier and guest team Zamboanga Valientes, whose leg 6 matches were all forfeited due to lack of players.
The PBA 3×3 Lakas ng Tatlo first conference champion will take home the top prize of P750,000, P250,000 will go to the runner-up and P100,000 to the third-placer./PN
