MANILA, Philippines -- Still fresh from the Gilas Pilipinas' silver medal run in the 2015 FIBA Asia Men's Championship, Calvin Abueva is deadset on bringing home another medal from international competition as he willed Team Manila North to the quarterfinal round of the FIBA 3x3 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Abueva led Team Manila with seven points in grinding out a 16-14 victory over Doha of Qatar early Friday (Manila time) as they bounced back from an opening game setback at the hands of Kranj from Slovenia.
Doha came back from five points down, 7-12, to threaten at 14-15. But Troy Rosario pegged the final count with a basket inside the paint with 1:40 remaining while Abueva collared two crucial rebounds in the final 10 seconds to preserve Team Manila North's victory.
Earlier, Abueva hit nine points rallying Team Manila North to within 17-20 against Kranj after falling behind by as many as eight. Abueva, Troy Rosario and Vic Manuel nearly bucked the ejection of their fourth man Karl Dehesa for shoving the hands of his defender earlier in the match but fell short.
Jure Erzen sealed the Slovenian's victory, 21-17, in the race-to-21 3-on-3 game.
Team Manila North and their Pool D opponents all finished with 1-1 win-loss record but Kranj came out on top with an accumulated 34 points followed by Abueva and co. who finished with 33. Doha managed only 30 points in two games.
Team Manila North earned a rematch with Manila leg Finals champion NoviSad AlWahda in the quarterfinals.
Catch the quarterfinal round and the rest of the playoffs on FIBA 3x3 channel: