Caguas impress on Day 1 at Abu Dhabi Final

ABU DHABI (FIBA 3x3 World Tour) – Caguas (PUR) turned heads on the opening day of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Final on Thursday 27 October 2016.

The winners of the Mexico City Masters simply defeated the runners-up of the last two editions of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour back-to-back. The Puerto Rican team started with an upset of Saskatoon (CAN) (21-13) with 10 points coming from Luis 'Pela Coco' Hernandez. Their second game against Kranj (SLO) went to the wire and 2012 World Tour winner Jonathan Garcia caught fire with a day-high 14 points including an incredible game-winner.

Three other teams had a perfect 2-0 run on Thursday.

The reigning champs Novi Sad Al Wahda (UAE) took care of business in Pool A against Belgrade (SRB) and St Petersburg (RUS), who are out of the competition.

Ljubljana (SLO) shocked the US champions and Americas Masters winners Chicago in Pool B and ended the day with a close win over the eliminated São Paulo DC (BRA). Their star player Jasmin Hercegovac topped all scorers on Day 1 with 18 points.

Last but not least, Hamamatsu (JPN) upset last year’s semi-finalists Piran (SLO) and sent Gdansk (POL) home early.

The number one 3x3 player in the world Dusan Domovic Bulut (Novi Sad Al Wahda) qualified for the final of the Mercedes Benz Shoot-Out Contest and will be joined by Marcin Chudy (Gdansk), Leandro Lima (São Paulo DC) and Maksim Zimarin (St Petersburg).

In the Etihad Dunk Contest, Piotr Renkiel (Gdansk) earned a ticket to the final. The dynamic Pole will face two of the most powerful pro dunkers in the game in Douglas Anderson (USA) and Miller (UKR).

The World Tour Final is back tomorrow from 5pm local time (GMT+4) with the final of the individual contests and the knock-out rounds.

View the bracket

Novi Sad Al Wahda (1) – Kranj (5)
Hamamatsu (11) – Chicago (10)
Ljubljana (2) – Piran (3)
Caguas (12) – Belgrade (8)