Tuburan 360 crowned men’s open champion in ANS 3x3 cage wars | The Freeman
CEBU, Philippines — The homegrown talents of Tuburan held their ground against a tough field of foreign players.
And they did it with a flourish.
Putting up a surprisingly great performance, the Tuburan 360 outgunned the American ballers from Chicago, 13-10, to capture the men’s open crown of the Allied Network Solutions (ANS) 3x3 Basketball Tournament Season 2 on Sunday, September 8, at the Sisters of Mary School-Boystown in Barangay Tungkop, Minglanilla.
Bannered by Miguelito Jusay, Mike Parilla, John Loufred Diamante and Christian Cuevas, the Tuburan 360 under the guidance of coach John Andrew Molon was the only all-Filipino team in the premiere division, yet they did not disappoint against the visiting squads from Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Missouri in the United States.
“Mga players na gyud ni sila namo sa Under 25. Ga-start mi sa Governors Cup niadtong 2018 hangtud nga na-develop namo sila. Karon, sila nay among paduwaon kon naay mga liga-liga in the other towns but first time ni nila niapil sa 3x3 and naka-champion pa gyud. Nindot kayo ang feeling,” said Tuburan 360 team owner and manager Christian Daniel Diamante, a licensed civil engineer and son of Tuburan Mayor Aljun Diamante.
Interestingly, the Tuburan cagers opened their bid with a 13-12 cliffanger against Missouri. They again went through some scary moments before fending off Chicago, 19-17, and New York, 11-9, on opening day.
Tuburan suffered a 5-8 loss to New Jersey during the second day of action but readily bounced back with a 13-5 rout of Texas to come out as No.1 seed at the end of group stage battle.
In the final match, Xanthanus Pierro vaulted Chicago to a hot 5-1 start but Tuburan, behind the hot hands of Parilla, slowly chiseled the deficit away until they knotted the count at 7-all with a minute and 10 seconds left in the contest.
Tuburan eventually seized the upper hand and then never looked back to walk away with a rousing three-point victory.
“Nindot kaayo kay ang atong mga kontra mga foreigners unya kita ray locals sa men’s open. Tuo gyud nako maglisod mi kay siyempre mga foreign players sila, lahi ilang training outside. Lahi ilang playing style, lahi sad atong
