Cavitex rises back to PBA 3x3 summit

MANILA, Philippines — Cavitex barely made the knockout rounds of Leg 6 in the PBA 3x3 Season 3 Third Conference after a stumbling 1-2 start in pool play. But such opening was all the Braves needed to drive their way back to the summit after a 12-leg drought.

The quartet of Jorey Napoles, Ken Ighalo, Bong Galanza and Clint Doliguez completed the dream ending with a 20-18 triumph over first-time finalist Blackwater Tuesday night at Market! Market!

“This is one of the most emotional leg championships for us kasi in Day 1, there was nothing working. Talagang sobrang sama ng laro namin,” said Ighalo.

Cavitex flirted with elimination after logging a victory against Purefoods (22-20) versus losses to the Smooth Razor (18-20) and MCFASolver (12-17) in Pool C Monday.

But the Braves caught a break when the Titans upset the Tech Centrale in Tuesday’s elims windup, 17-15, forcing a three-way tie for second among them at 1-2. After the tiebreak, Cavitex took the No. 2 seed behind unbeaten Blackwater (3-0) while Purefoods grabbed the third and last quarterfinal ticket.

The Braves made the most of this opportunity, beating Barangay Ginebra in the Last-8, 21-17, then Leg 5 winner TNT in the semis, 18-16, before clawing back from 17-18 to steal the gold from the Smooth Razor.

“We were waiting for the result of MCFASolver and Purefoods kasi may chance kami na ma-out. Pero ipinagkaloob ni Lord na makapasok kami and we learned from yesterday (group games). We just gave our all,” said Ighalo.

“Sabi nga ni coach (Kyles Lao), kailangang ipakita namin uli ang Cavitex brand of basketball,” said Napoles, who finished with 13 points, including the last three markers of the finale, to lead Ighalo (four), Doliguez (two) and Galanza (one) in scoring.

Cavitex banked P100,000 after topping a leg for the first time since snaring back-to-back in Legs 4 and 5 of the season’s First Conference.

Blackwater’s RJ Deles (eight), Wendell Comnoy (seven), Dariel Bayla (three) and Rey Publico earned P50,000 after giving the franchise its best finish ever.

Meanwhile, the Triple Giga beat three-leg ruler Meralco, 21-16, for third place.