Ronnie Magsanoc aims to steal games

Although the Philippines is ranked second to the lowest among 20 men’s teams in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup at the Philippine Arena starting today, coach Ronnie Magsanoc said he’s hoping the four-man national team will compete “well enough” to get into position to steal games in the end.

The Philippine squad of 6-7 Christian Standhardinger, 6-0 Stanley Pringle, 6-2 R. R. Pogoy and 6-7 Troy Rosario is bracketed in Group C with Russia, Brazil, Mongolia and Canada. Only two of the five teams in each of the four groups will advance to the knockout quarterfinals, semifinals and final on June 12. To book an automatic ticket to the playoffs, the Philippines must win at least thrice in the single-round eliminations.

“It’s three wins to ensure passage into the quarterfinals or round-of-8,” said Magsanoc. The opposition is formidable as Russia is ranked No. 3 in the world 3x3 ladder, Brazil No. 6, Mongolia No. 11 and Canada No. 14. 

There are doubts that Standhardinger may be able to play in the four-day tournament. He sat out San Miguel Beer’s last two games in the PBA with a swollen knee. “Christian has indicated that he’ll be good to go for the competition,” said Magsanoc. “So far, in the short time that we practiced together, they’ve been able to complement each other that hopefully, translates into playing well together.” The team has trained for about a month but it’s been a challenge to coincide schedules because of the players’ commitments with different teams in the PBA.

The Philippines swings into action tomorrow against Brazil at 3:10 p.m. and Mongolia at 6:40 p.m. Then, the host nation returns to the court on Monday to face Canada at 4:50 p.m. and Russia at 7 p.m. If the Philippines finishes No. 1 or No. 2 in Group C, it will play either of the top two teams in Group A in the quarterfinals. The teams in Group A are defending champion Serbia, Netherlands, Romania, New Zealand and Kyrgyzstan. The quarterfinals, semifinals, playoff for third place and final are scheduled on Tuesday.

In the women’s division, the Philippines will make its FIBA 3x3 World Cup debut with coach Pat Aquino piloting 6-2 Jack Animam, 5-5 Janine Pontejos, 5-8 Gemma Miranda and 5-8 Afril Bernardino. The team is in Pool D with Hungary, Spain, Netherlands and Germany. The Philippines plays the Netherlands at 2:50 p.m. and Germany at 6:40 p.m. today then Spain at 4:20 p.m. and Hungary at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Against taller players, Aquino said quickness is the key. “We’ll just have to work on how to move the ball quickly to get open shots,” he said. “If you notice, 3x3 is a lot faster than 5x5 so conditioning is a factor which is why I got younger players.”