2019 3x3 Montreal Masters - Day 1 Recap
The 3x3 World Tour touches down in Canada for the second time this year for the first staging of the Montreal Masters, where three Canadian teams - Edmonton, Old Montreal and Toronto - went looking to make an impact against some of the best teams out there and give home fans something to cheer for.
Playing in Pool A, local team Old Montreal faced some particularly fearsome opponents in their opening game: Novi Sad. Greg Faulker had the best game with seven points for Novi Sad were their usual selves: tough, physical and accurate. Dusan Bulut led all on the floor with 10 points as Novi Sad got the win, 21-14.
Old Montreal now needed a win against Lausanne to keep their hopes alive, and they kept it close early on with the Swiss team leading by two. Dele Okundokun made it a one-point game at the mid-section, and the scores were tied shortly after, but the outside shooting of Marco Lehmann and Westher Molteni kept Lausanne in front and they reached the 21-point mark first, at the same time eliminating Old Montreal.
Edmonton were looking to get off to the best start in Pool C, but that was made a tough by their first opponents, NY Harlem. Dominique Jones was NY Harlem's go-to for points, he finished with eleven, but Steve Sir was on fire from two-point territory while the rest of the team took care of the points in the paint. That gave them the edge they needed to prevail, and the final score was 21-19 in their favour.
Sir and Edmonton followed this up in the second game against San Juan, only this time were far more dominant over the Puerto Ricans. The captain once again led the scoring, this time overall with 10 points, which lifted Edmonton to their second victory and the top of Pool C. The final score 22-14 against San Juan.
Alex Johnson was doing it all for Toronto in their opening game against Piran in Pool D, leading the Ontario team with eight points. The Slovenian side, though, were almost perfect from close range, while letting Simon Finzgar take care of defence, finishing with ten rebounds in the game. Piran ran out winners, 21-12.
Toronto were down a player against Zemun, and while they struggled to carry the slack between them, the Serbian team dominated with their team play. Nebojsa Boskovic led with seven points for Zemun as they sent Toronto packing with a 22-11 defeat.
At the end of day one there was only one native team left in Montreal. Edmonton's pool performance has earned them a quarter final spot against Pool A runners up, Lausanne. A win there and they will move on to face either Liman or Piran in the semi finals. Now Canada's only remaining hope in the tournament, will they be able to go all the way?
Come back for a full report of day two and check out the official FIBA 3x3 website for more information.
Picture: FIBA.com
