Newly-acquired Ricci Rivero hardly showed any rust and lost no time into towing Blackwater into the knockout stage of the Philippine Basketball Association 3×3 Third Conference final leg for Season 2 on Saturday at Robinsons Place Manila.
The 24-year-old guard scored eight points in his tournament-debut as the Red President turned back NorthPort Batang Pier, 21-19.
Rivero’s brother Prince later took over with nine points in a 22-16 drubbing of defending champion Platinum Karaoke for a two-game sweep of Pool A to finish their Leg 6 pool campaign on a high note.
A former national player both with the 3×3 and 5-on-5 teams, Rivero was signed by Blackwater just this week in time for Leg 6 and the third conference grand finals of the standalone tournament.
Platinum Karaoke joined Blackwater in the next round with a 20-16 win over NorthPort to claim the other quarterfinals seat in Pool A.
Terrafirma meanwhile, got a piece of the limelight as it stunned multi-leg winner Cavitex, 19-17, in Pool B.
The upset win allowed the Dyip to end their pool campaign with an even 1-1 record after earlier absorbing a 19-15 loss to Barangay Ginebra.
The rest of the pool matches are still being played as off press time.
In other results, J&T also split its two games in Pool C, initially routing Purefoods, 21-10, only to lose against TNT, 21-15.
Pioneer Elastoseal did the same in Pool D, scoring a 21-16 win over San Miguel, before dropping a 15-11 loss to Meralco.
