Edmonton at the 3x3 Utsunomiya Final - Recap

Edmonton punched a last-minute ticket to the Utsunomiya final of this year's 3x3 World Tour and went into the championship stop with high hopes - but with the field made up of the year's twelve best teams, success was not going to come easy on their last outing of 2019.

Their first opponents were Riga, who opened with a 6-0 run until their streak was broken by Edmonton's Jordan Baker, but there was no stopping the relentless Latvian team, who soon found themselves with a twelve-point lead. Edmonton picked up a few points but were overwhelmed by Riga, who won by a comfortable margin of 21 points to 8.

With a second win over Amsterdam, Riga had guaranteed their place on day two, now it was left to the Dutch team and Edmonton to fight to escape the pool. When the two teams met they exchanged baskets early on and there was little to separate them, save for Jesper Jobse's outside shooting, which kept the advantage with Amsterdam.

Jordan Baker and Kyle Landry built on a lead made by Steve Sir and Edmonton suddenly led by three points with two minutes left. Unfortunately for them, Jobse tied the scores moments later and Aron Roije hit two more points to take Amsterdam to the 21-point mark and advance to the knockout stage at Edmonton's expense.

In his team's early exit from Utsunomiya, Kyle Landry averaged 6.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, the highest averages for Edmonton, but these would be small crumbs of comfort for both Landry and the team.

As for the rest of the tournament, Riga and Amsterdam both advanced to the semi finals, but would go no further. The Dutch team suffered a heavy defeat to Princeton while Riga were edged out by Novi Sad, who went on to capture their fourth 3x3 World Tour title with a 21-17 victory over Princeton in the final.

For more information on the Utsunomiya final, follow this link to the official FIBA website.

Picture: FIBA.com