Defending champion Serbia maintains forward push at 3x3 World Cup
DEFENDING champion Serbia led early quarterfinalists at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup yesterday as it swept its day assignments and maintained an unblemished record at the end of its preliminary schedule.
The Serbians, towed by top player Dusan Domovic Bulut and teammate Dejan Majstorovic, defeated Andorra, 22-13, in the their first game on Day 3 of the tournament before getting the better of Puerto Rico, 21-14, later in their second game.
The twin victories afforded the defending champion, with a 4-0 record, the top spot in Pool A and assured themselves a spot in the next round as well as kept it on track of defending its title.
Also securing a spot in the quarters from Pool A was Russia, which wound up with a 3-1 record, edging Puerto Rico (2-2) for the final spot from their pool.
In the FIBA 3x3 World Cup, tournament format calls for the top two teams in each of the four pools advancing to the quarterfinals.
Joining Serbia and Russia in the quarterfinals were the Netherlands and United States, which emerged as the top two from Pool D.
The Dutch team finished with a 4-0 record after beating Indonesia, 21-11 and New Zealand, 20-13, yesterday while the Americans had a 3-1 card at the end of their preliminary assignments.
Serbia, Russia, the Netherlands and United States now await the top two teams from Pools B and C to complete last eight cast.
The Philippines, bannered by collegiate standouts Kiefer Ravena and Jeron Teng, US collegiate campaigner Kobe Paras and Philippine Basketball Association veteran JR Quiñahan and backed by Chooks-to- Go, is currently at third place in Pool B with a 1- 1 record and needs to sweep its game assignments on Day 4 early today against Slovenia ( 2- 0) and El Salvador (0-2) to at least get a good shot at advancing. —