Saudi Gazette MANILA — Calvin "The Beast" Abueva powered his 12th-seed Manila North team to the quarterfinals of the 2015 FIBA 3x3 World Tour, upsetting and eliminating fourth seed Doha of Qatar, 16-14, Friday morning after an opening game loss to fifth-seed Kranj of Slovenia in Pool D of the tournament played at the Corniche in Abu Dhabi. Abueva scored seven points in the win against Doha which led to a three-way tie at 1-1 (win-loss) among the three teams in Pool D. Kranj, which lost to Doha, and Manila North advanced to the quarterfinals under the quotient system. Abueva has now scored 16 points in two games, good for joint second place in the tournament scoring leader. Abueva and his teammates Vic Manuel, Troy Rosario and Karl Dehesa will now go up against the top seed NoviSad Al-Wahda of UAE in the knockout quarterfinals Saturday morning. This was the same team that defeated Abueva's Manila North in the final of the Manila Masters last August. Just minutes after their loss to Kranj, the Filipinos showed their big fighting heart as they grabbed a 5-0 lead against Doha. Dehesa, who was ejected in the game against Kranj, scored the first basket with a putback. Abueva then drilled a two-pointer from deep followed by back-to-back baskets by Manuel. Doha's Dominic James and Sammy Monroe then led a 4-1 run to cut Manila North's lead to 6-4. Abueva and Manuel pushed their team's lead to 12-7, but Doha fought back to cut the Filipinos' lead to one, 15-14. But Rosario bailed out Manila North with a huge basket inside for a 16-14 lead with only 1:40 remaining. That turned out to be the final basket of the game. Abueva grabbed two crucial rebounds in the last 10 seconds of the game to ensure his team's victory. In Pool A, the Number One 3x3 player in the world Dusan Domovic Bulut lived up to his reputation and led all scorers on Day 1 with 20 points after leading his team Novi Sad Al Wahda to back-to-back wins. Rio took an unexpected second place after defeating Vilnius (LTU) on a Douglas Motta two-pointer in the closing seconds of the game. The 2013 FIBA 3x3 World Tour winners Ljubljana (SLO) topped Pool B after a difficult win against Denver (USA). Three teams were tied with one win in Pool C, with Trbovlje (SLO) taking first place based on total points scored and NY Harlem joining them in the quarterfinals after a thrilling 21-19 win against the Slovenian team on an Edis Derdisevic power play. The quarterfinals pairings are: Kranj (Slovenia, 5) vs. Rio (Brazil, 8); Trbovlje (Slovenia, 3) vs. Denver (USA, 10); Ljubljana (Slovenia, 2) vs. NY Harlem (USA, 11); and Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE, 1) vs. Manila North (Philippines, 12). The tournament winner will win $30,000 as well as spots in the FIBA 3×3 All Stars in Qatar in December.
