An Eventful 3x3 OQT Pool for Canada - Full Recap

With less than two months to go before the start of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the attention of the 3x3 Basketball world was on the city of Graz in Austria, site of qualifying for the first 3x3 Olympic tournament.

Canada were one of the twenty men's teams competing for just one of three places in the games itself. Top-rated World Tour team Edmonton - Steve Sir, Kyle Landry, Jordan Jensen-Whyte and Alex Johnson - would be the country's representative in a crowded field which first looking to make it out of their respective pool of five teams and take the next step toward joining China, Russia, Serbia and hosts Japan in the quest for a gold medal at Tokyo 2020.

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First up was Croatia in the first game for both Pool D contingents. Alex Johnson opened the scoring with a two-pointer, he and Steve Sir went in search of open looks from all distances, getting much of them to fall. The Croatians were able to claw some points back before Canada went into a five-point lead.

After some short-range successes, Croatia started to narrow the gap but last-minute, low-post heroics by Jensen-Whyte sealed the Canadian victory, getting the team off to the best start with a win, 18 points to 14.

Canada then faced their highest-rated opposition in the Netherlands. Again, Johnson put the first points on the board for Canada, who did well to navigate tough Dutch defence. By the mid-point of the game, with the Netherlands proving unstoppable in the low post, their four point lead became just one.

Johnson tried to extend their lead with a two, only to be matched by Diemo van der Horst, who kept it at one. Kyle Landry making his height advantage count but two layups in quick succession from the Dutch tied the scored with a minute on the clock. A long range two by Jordan Jensen-Whyte alleviated Canadian fears, along with two free-throws by Sir proved to be the plays that would win them the game

The team came into the final day of the pool phase with a two-win advantage, but still had plenty to do to move on to the knockout round.

In their third game, Latvia put up five points in under a minute against them for an early 6-1 lead. The Canadians tried to orchestrate a way back into the game but came unstuck in the face of tough defence, pin-point passing and on-target long-range shooting. Though they got to within two midway through the game, Canada kept coming up short against the tenacious Latvians who handed them their first defeat of the tournament, 21-16.

The loss to Latvia meant Canada now needed a win against Austria to guarantee their place in the knockout round. Jordan Jensen-Whyte opened by continually knifing through the lane and Steve Sir followed from beyond the arc to lead the hosts 8-4 with just over four minutes played.

First picking up plenty of points in the paint then on-target from long range, Austria equalised twice ahead of the final two minutes of regulation. As the tension mounted, Canada found late open looks to keep their hopes alive, but Austria had caught fire from beyond the arc - which saw them go up by one, then a two-pointer by Moritz Lanegger sank the dagger for the Canadian team.

Though they were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, home advantage seemed to pay for the Austrians. Monopolizing possession in the last few seconds saw them close out the win, 19-16.

This loss meant Canada had to wait for the result of the final game between Croatia and the Netherlands to see if two wins would be enough to see them stay in the tournament. A win for the Dutch would spell the end for their time in the OQT - and after a final score of 22-16 to the Netherlands, they advance at the expense of the Canadians.

Canada missed out on a match-up with rivals the USA, the Netherlands instead will face the basketball titans in their first knockout game, while pool winners Latvia will take on Pool B runners-up and neighbours Lithuania for a place in the semi-final. Elsewhere, Poland will face Slovenia and France have Brazil to play in the first games of the elimination round.

Sad news for Canada to fall short after a great start, but the field was gruelling and unforgiving with everyone bringing their A-game to Austria. For more, including full details and highlights of every game in the OQT, follow this link to the official FIBA 3x3 website.