On June 25, four men’s teams and four women’s teams will advance to the semifinals of the Crelan FIBA 3×3 World Cup 2022-23.
Serbia, the tournament’s top seed, is still in great shape to win the tournament for the fifth time in seven attempts. For what was widely expected to be the championship game versus Latvia, the defending Olympic champions, ‘The Maestro’ Dejan Majstorovic scored a game-high 8 points, including the game-winning basket.
Belgium, who advanced by defeating Poland in the quarterfinals, will face Serbia in the semis (18-14). Nick Celis and Maxime Depuydt combined for 13 points to help the hosts, and the loooooooooud Belgian crowd certainly didn’t hurt.
2022 Crelan FIBA 3×3 World Cup
France will face Lithuania in the other second-round men’s semi-final. Having previously defeated Austria in the play-in game, les Bleus defeated the Netherlands (18-12) in Antwerp to snap their four-game winning run.
Marijus Uzupis, another Lithuanian lefty, scored 7 points, had 6 assists, and pulled down 6 rebounds as his team defeated the United States, 21-11. When he made three straight two-pointers, that completely flipped the momentum away from Lithuania.
Both the men’s and women’s semi-finals will include France and Lithuania as competitors.
Les Bleus avenged their home semifinal loss to Spain from last year by defeating them in Spain. The win came four hours after les Bleus defeated Mongolia in the play-in (21-9). Marie-Eve Paget, formerly ranked first in the world in 3×3, won the game with a short jumper from the baseline in overtime (15-14).
Canada, who had a busy day beating the Women’s Series defending champions Germany in the play-in and the United States in the quarterfinals, will face France in the next round (14-10). There were 11 points scored by the Plouffe sisters (Katherine and Michelle).
See Also – A 3×3 all-star named Laetitia Guapo was named France’s finest basketball player for 2022
Meanwhile, China, who won bronze at Tokyo 2020, will face Lithuania in the other semi-final. It is safe to say that the finest game of the women’s World Cup was played in the quarterfinals, when Lithuania overcame Poland 19-16. Monika Grigalauskyte had a double-double by scoring 7 points and grabbing 5 rebounds, which was the most by any player in the game.
In the previous quarter-final, China eliminated Belgium (21-13). After Laure Resimont hurt her ankle in the play-in victory over Brazil, the Belgian Cats were down to only three players, and Lili Wang, the Tokyo Olympics scoring leader, recorded a game-high nine points.