BASKETBALL – Bahrain representatives Riffa barged into the quarter-finals of the Macau Masters yesterday, part of this year’s Fiba 3x3 World Tour.
Riffa secured their spot in the knockouts after splitting their two preliminary round games in Pool C.
They first defeated Liman from Serbia 17-13 but then narrowly lost to Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy 18-19.
They thus finished as runners-up in their group, pipping Liman for the other place in the last eight.
They joined Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy in advancing.
Riffa will next face off with another Serbian outfit in Ub in the quarters. Ub topped Pool A after also taking a win and a loss in their two assignments yesterday.
The other pairings in the elite eight see Chongming from China face Miami from the US, Lugano from Switzerland take on Bordeaux from France, and Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy lock horns with Kandava Turiba from Latvia.
The opening knockout phase is scheduled to begin today at 9.30am, Bahrain time. The semi-finals and final will follow later in the day.
Riffa are competing in Macau with their quartet of Belgian nationals Dennis Donkor, Jonas Foerts, and Vic van Oosterwyck, along with Serbian Milos Antic.
They first had to compete in qualifying draw A to secure their berth in the tournament proper.
Riffa opened qualification with a 21-15 win over Brisbane from Australia, and then took care of Melbourne CLB EXE, also from Australia, 22-19 in their next game.
In their win against Liman, Riffa had a great start and four unanswered points from Donkor and van Oosterwyck gave them a commanding 11-4 advantage midway through the 10-minute contest.
A Donkor two-pointer then gave them a 13-5 lead, but Liman gradually cut the deficit and got to within a single possession, 13-15, with 29 seconds to go.
Foerts then sealed the win with a basket from beyond the arc with 18 seconds remaining as time eventually expired.
Donkor finished with nine points while Foerts had five, van Oosterwyck three, and Antic zero.
In their next outing against Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy, the Mongolians powered ahead 10-5 and then 17-11, but Riffa made a late surge after falling behind 14-19.
Foerts scored the last four points of the game, but Riffa could not add to his two-pointer with 29 seconds remaining that pegged the final score.
Donkor and Foerts were the only Riffa players to get on the board, finishing with 11 and seven points, respectively.
Riffa are playing in Macau after a solid showing in the previous Fiba 3x3 World Tour event, the Deqing Masters, held last weekend in China.
Following Macau, Masters competitions will also take place in Abu Dhabi and Bucharest before heading to Bahrain for the season’s curtain-closer on November 21 and 22, entitled the Manama Final.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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