Mount-Royal, Doha Masters get 2019 FIBA 3x3 World Tour underway

Quebecois team Mount-Royal fared far less than they would have liked to in the opening round of the 2019 FIBA 3x3 World Tour.

Held in the Qatari capital of Doha, and for the first time, the first stop on this year's tour saw Mount-Royal suffer a heavy defeat in their opening game, 22-13, to Piran. They kept it tighter against Ljubljana, but trailing by five at the final buzzer meant they would be exiting the Doha Masters winless on day one.

Avery Cadogan led the scoring for Mount-Royal, while Daniel Pieper took care of defence and finished the tournament with 7.0 rebounds per game.

Hosts Doha could not fight their way out of a tough Pool B that contained defending champions Novi Sad and mainstays of Japan, Tokyo, while Serbian team Liman and Pasig from the Philippines shattered the hopes of home fans as they made sure the second Qatar-based team, Katara, also failed to make the knockout stage.

Riga did not have a good start to proceedings, dropping their first game 19-17 to Balanga. Defeating Moscow by five in their second game, though, they lived to see day two.

They would then advance to the final after comprehensive wins over Pasig and then Piran, setting up a meeting with Liman, who ended Novi Sad’s thirty-five game winning streak after defeating them 20-17 in the semi-finals.

The final was a tense affair with neither team willing to give up an inch. Riga's three-point lead was erased with just over a minute to go, but a free-throw from Nauris Miezis would be the deciding play here, winning the game for Riga and with it their first-ever Masters title and a place in the grand final at the season's end.

There will be a long wait until the next stop on the main tour, June 1st, when the Chengdu Masters tip off in China. Until then, more information on the 3x3 World Tour can be found on the competition's official website.