Unity Trade clinches men’s 3x3 crown

The 2026 NMIBF Men’s 3x3 Basketball Tournament’s top teams clashed in the championships with Unity Trade uniting as one, beating out formidable foe Think Tank Pacific, 16-12, on Friday, Oct. 30, at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Unity Trade was made up of national team players Coby Santos, Airson Atan, John Thongaram Jr., and Chioni Dela Cruz, and went up against Ervin Villarin, Chris Diwa, Wesley Walker, and Jeffrey Yugummang.

The 3x3 format is whoever scores 21 points first wins—or if 10 minutes are up before that, whoever has the most points wins.

Unity Trade found the net first with a shot outside the arc by Thongaram, and two minutes into the game, led 5-1. After a quick time out, Think Tank got within one, 4-5, with shots by Walker, Villarin, and Yugummang.

But, time was winding down fast and Unity Trade resorted to deep buckets by Thongaram and Santos to lead, 8-4. Aggressive attacks under the basket led to shots from the free throw line and with just 5:17 left on the clock, the game was tied at 8 points a piece.

Santos then broke through with another basket past the arc to give them the lead, 10-8. For Think Tank, Walker and Diwa gave their team their last push—as Unity Trade silenced them with just three minutes left on the clock. Santos stayed hot and shot another from downtown, with Atan adding one too for the 16-12 final.

Santos led the team with seven points, Atan had five markers, and Thongaram sank in four.

Dela Cruz said on their win, “Honestly it feels good. We haven’t really been playing basketball, but I feel like this is a great way for us all to come back together.”

Facing off again against Think Tank, who they lost to in the regular season, Thongaram said, “What we did differently was our defense. I feel like we were sagging too much.” Dela Cruz added, “They’re a tough team but I’m glad we were able to come together and pull it off. We’re all from the national team so we’ve played with each other previously. But yeah, we’ve been going at it too in the past business leagues so I figured it would be a good way to come together and see how we can do.”

They then thanked their supporters, families, friends, God, and their sponsor Paul Quizon and Unity Trade.