Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas suffered an 87-66 beating at the hands of Iranian club Petrochimi to set up a very interesting quarterfinal date with Andray Blatche’s China Kashgar in the FIBA Asia Champions Cup on Tuesday night at Chenzhou Sports Center in China.
The loss relegated Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas (2-2) to third place in Group A, forging a knockout duel on Thursday with defending champion and Group B No.2 seed China Kashgar which features the naturalized Filipino.
Blatche has only played one game so far in the tournament, going scoreless in nine minutes while dishing six assists and two rebounds in a 103-73 loss to Al Riyadi of Lebanon on Tuesday.
Against Petrochimi, the Philippine club stood toe-to-toe in the first quarter which ended 16-14 in favor of the Iranian squad.
But Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas couldn’t find an answer to Willie Warren who led a 24-10 breakaway that handed Petrochimi a 43-29 halftime advantage. He finished the game with 30 points.
Petrochimi’s lead swelled to 21 points, 57-36, in the third quarter but Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas threatened in the fourth frame.
With Kiefer Ravena quarterbacking an undersized All-Filipino lineup, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas managed to cut down its deficit to just 10, 66-56, with 7:03 remaining.
However, Petrochimi responded with a 14-0 run to take the fight out of the Philippine squad.
Isaiah Austin scored 20 points and 12 rebounds while Kiefer Ravena tallied 20 points and four boards to lead Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas.