Team Balanga of Bataan leaned on Travis Franklin, who made sure to give a good ending to the Philippines’ campaign in the Qualifying Draw B of the 2019 FIBA 3X3 Bucharest Challenger over the weekend.
Franklin drilled in the game-winning free throw to seal a 21-19 win in the last 2:18 over Russia’s Kochenevo at the Parklake Shopping Mall in Romania.
Balanga finished its sortie with a 1-1 win-loss record
USA’s Colorado City went on to sweep the group stage to advance to the main draw in the sport where the first to score 21 points is declared the winner.
The Canyon Barry-led squad earlier defeated Balanga (19-18) and Kochenevo (21-11).
The pair of Karl Dehesa and Franklin started the game with the bang, lifting Balanga to a 10-3 start.
Franklin had five points while Dehesa added four.
Then, the Russians suddenly picked up steam midway through the game as the tandem of Dmitry Eltsov and Evgeny Arakcheev caught fire.
Behind the two, Kochenevo was able to cut the lead down to one, 17-16, with 3:23 left.
Lamar Roberson put the Russians ahead with an and-one, before Arakcheev knocked down his third deuce of the game.
Roberson ended the game with nine points, behind five one-point shots and four free throws.