Manila North falls, Novi Sad rules Fiba 3×3 World Tour

Photo from Fiba 3×3 Twitter.

Novi Sad Al Wahda trounced Manila North, 21-13, in the quarterfinals Saturday on the way to the pinnacle of success in the Fiba 3×3 World Tour in Abu Dhabi.

Calvin Abueva, Vic Manuel and Troy Rosario pooled their resources together but the United Arab Emirates-based team refused to be contained with Dusan Domovic Bulut and Dejan Majstorovic unstoppable in attacking the hoop.

The Filipinos, with wingman Karl Dehesa backing up Abueva, wound up sixth among 12 teams after coming into the tournament ranked 12th.

If there’s any consolation, Manila North certainly got the attention of the entire field when it pulled the biggest upset of the meet the other day before a huge crowd of mostly Overseas Filipino Workers.

Forced into a do-or-die tiff, the Filipinos repulsed Team Doha of Qatar, 16-14, to arrange the quarterfinal meeting with Novi Sad.

In the semifinals, Novi Sad barely survived Trboulje of Slovenia, 16-14, and faced an even more challenging nemesis in Kranj before squeezing a 17-14 win against the Slovenians during the finals.

Bulut, Serbia’s 3×3 men’s team gunner, compiled 42 points over five games for the back-to-back world champions while Majstorovic had 31 as they led all scorers in the two-day tourney.

Abueva, who spearheaded Manila North’s bid to the world championship, was the top Filipino performer with 20 points in three games.