TROY Rike caught fire for Family's Brand Sardines Zamboanga City to down Zamboanga Peninsula Valientes MLV, 21-14 in the preliminaries of the 2020 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 Presidents Cup Leg 1 Wednesday at Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba.
The Fil-Am banger waxed hot and buried three deuces, including bone-crunching back-to-back long bombs to seal the deal for the tournament favorites as they went unbeaten in Pool A.
Rike poured seven points in the win, while top-ranked Joshua Munzon added six.
Munzon also provided the heroics in their second game as Zamboanga City escaped a highly physical encounter against the Sarangani Marlins, 22-19.
The top-ranked 3x3 player buried the big deuce with 2:43 to spare to go 2-0 and snare the group's top seed.
Zamboanga Peninsula, though, still advanced to the quarterfinals after scoring a 21-19 escape against Sarangani.
Gab Banal also outsmarted the defense as Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards outlasted Bacolod Master Sardines, 21-19 to snag the top seed in Pool D.
The crafty veteran scored on a putback and punished the opposition as he canned a pair of freebies to ice the game with 3:19 left despite playing two on three for one minute after injuries to Juan Gomez de Liano and Maclean Sabellina.
It catapulted Nueva Ecija to a 2-0 record after showing its strength with a 21-10 rout of Petra Cement-Roxas ZN.
Bacolod, though, still made it to the next round after its 21-17 conquest over Roxas.
In the other brackets, Chico Lanete captained Uling Roasters-Butuan City to reign atop Pool B with a 21-12 win over Pagadian City-Rocky Sports and a 21-13 victory over the Pasig-Sta. Lucia Realtors.
Pasig, meanwhile, bested Pagadian City, 21-13, to clinch its seat in the quarters.
Palayan City Capitals dominated Pool C with a 21-15 decision over Big Boss Cement-Porac MSC and another 21-15 conquest over Bicol Paxful SMDC.
Porac booked the second quarterfinal ticket with a 21-14 win over Bicol.
With the group stages done, preseason runner-up Bacolod will be on a collision course against the hard-nosed Butuan side.
Rounding out the other matchups are Zamboanga City facing Porac, Palayan City meeting Zamboanga Peninsula, and Nueva Ecija taking on Pasig.
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