Possible All-Filipino Semis in the books

Manila North, West advance to FIBA 3x3 Manila Quarter Finals

Day 2 Schedule:
(All times are in UTC +8, Philippine Time)
1:00 PM Shootout Qualifiers
1:45 PM Novi Sad Al-Wahda (UAE) vs. Auckland (NZL)
2:15 PM Doha (QAT) vs. Ljubljana (SLO)
2:45 PM Manila North (PHL) vs. Kobe (JPN)
3:15 PM Manila West (PHL) vs. Longshi (CHN)
4:00 PM Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest Finals
4:30 PM Semi-finals 1 [QF1 winner vs. QF2 winner]
5:00 PM Semi-finals 2 [QF3 winner vs. QF4 winner]
5:30 PM Championship Game [SF1 winner vs. SF2 winner]
6:00 PM Awarding ceremonies

MANILA An All-Filipino Semis heating up? A definite possibility.

Reigning leg kingpins Team Manila West - Philippines continued their stellar showing proving themselves
that they are among the Worlds best as they grittily breezed through familiar roadblock Auckland (New
Zealand) and a young yet promising Team Manila South (PHL) in Day 1 of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour
Manila Masters at the Robinsons Place Manila, August 1st.

Terrence Romeo led all scorers after Day 1 of competition, chipping 20 points in 2 games, in a classic
display of pure ankle breaking effort as they took Auckland in a gritty 20-18 decision before dispatching
fellow ballers Manila South (representing Cebu) 21-14.

Not to be outdone, Team Manila North (PHL) in Pool B, led by Alaska Aces stars Calvin Abueva and Vic
Manuel chartered the tougher route before barging into the KO Quarterfinal stage with former NU
Bulldog enforcer Jeth Troy Rosario and Mahindra Enforcers Karl Dehesa providing extra grit and outside
sniping against 2nd seed Ljubljana (led by 7-foot-1 giant and former World Number 1 Blaz Cresnar) with
the former winning, 17-16 on a last second tip by Rosario. They also had to endure Beirut (LIB)s mean
physicality before surviving with a 20-18 thriller courtesy of Vic Manuels sweet shooting from the stripe.

Also making an impressive showing are reigning 3x3 World tour Grand Champions Novi Sad Al-Wahda
(UAE) and 2013 FIBA 3x3 World Champions Doha (QAT) after sweeping their respective groups with
abbreviated victories. Novi Sad made mincemeat of Team Medan (INA) and Longshi (CHN) with 21-8 and
21-6 decisions respectively in Pool A. Doha (QAT), meanwhile in Pool C, made short work of Kobe (JPN),
now reinforced by American Devaughn Washington and Nyika Williams of Saint Vincent and The
Grenadines, 21-11 before sending home Kaohsiung (TPE) with a 21-12 beatdown.

Several highliights made the first day of the 3-month,7-city tournament sent the full house Robinsons
Manila crowd in wild frenzy, with Romeo (of GlobalPort in the PBA) breaking several ankles and hitting
long-range missiles despite having defenders all up in his face. Newly-minted SEA Games gold medalist
pro-bound Troy Rosario also flexed his muscles with some sticky, yet nasty defense against broader
counterparts, even making a putback throwdown against Beirut.
The tournament, staged last year at the SM Megamall fashion Hall is organized by FIBA and the
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) with Nike as its founding partner and Wilson Sporting Goods as
global sponsor, providing the official ball of the tournament. Supporting the tournament are PLDT
Home, Smart, Meralco, Maynilad, and Sky Freight.

The finalists of the Manila Masters will go to Abu Dhabi for the Grand Final on October 15 and 16. After
the Manila Leg, it will travel to five other cities namely Prague (Czech Republic, August 8-9), Beijing
(China, August 15-16), Lausanne (Switzerland, August 28-29), Mexico Distrito Federal (Mexico,
September 9-10), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, September 26-27).

(30)