Argentinian men and the French women earned statement wins on Day 3 of the FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup in Xiong’an, China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t easy, but Argentina came through to book their place in the knockout rounds.They battled down to the wire against Italy, coming away with a narrow loss. The pressure was now on them to deliver in the final pool game of the day against a gritty Venezuela side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Venezuela brought the physicality and took the fight to their opposition, but Argentina were game for it all. Santino Mazzucchelli, who had been stellar all tournament, delivered a clutch performance as his 9 points proved to be key to them earning a much-needed victory to seal their place in the Quarter-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While they didn\u2019t go perfect on the day, their tenacity and spirit shone through as they now aim to carry over their recent win all the way to a deep run in the knockout stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Les Bleus were sitting at the women’s top heading into the deciding pool games today, but things were far from settled.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were pitted against Poland in their opening game, another side in the pool that stood unbeaten. In what was essentially a battle for the top spot, France dominated. They came away with a 21 – 11 victory thanks to a tandem scoring effort while holding down their opposition from catching fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They made easy work of Algeria with a 22 – 8 win, closing out pool play in blistering fashion, just how they started. They now head into the Quarter-final with momentum firmly on their side and a clear message to the rest of the competition that they\u2019re coming for Gold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile Lorenzo Piccin was undoubtedly Italy’s hero today. Finding themselves in a tough spot after splitting results in their initial pool games, Italy needed to sweep the day for a comfortable place in the knockout rounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They handled business against Algeria where Piccin put up a team-high 7 points, scoring from all levels to lead his side to the win. However, it was the battle against Argentina where he would truly shine. In a back-and-forth frenzy, Piccin answered every single time. With time winding down and scores level at 19 apiece, Piccin drilled an ice-cold dagger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He finished the game with 11 points as Italy earned a Quarter-final berth thanks to the sharpshooter\u2019s efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When needed most, Momoka Hanashima came in clutch in the women’s competiton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a rough game for the star from Japan to start off Day 3 action against China, she turned it around with a heroic performance in their game against Italy <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finding themselves down 18 – 13 with less than a minute to go, Hanashima went lights out. She drilled back-to-back twos before drawing the foul that took her to the line where she put the game to bed. A flurry of 6 points turned the tides in favor of Japan. She finished with 10 points and all the plaudits as they finished pool play unbeaten. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
QUARTER-FINAL MATCHUPS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n MEN<\/strong>: CROATIA v ITALY; ARGENTINA v LITHUANIA<\/p>\n\n\n\n WOMEN<\/strong>: JAPAN v POLAND; FRANCE v CHINA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Argentinian men and the French women earned statement wins on Day 3 of the FIBA 3×3 U23 World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[94,52],"class_list":["post-3453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-newsbeat","tag-3-x-3","tag-basketball"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t