LAUSANNE (3x3) - Team Kranj (SLO), the winners of the 2013 FIBA 3x3 World Tour Lausanne Masters continue to feel themselves at home in Switzerland. Together with Ljubljana (SLO) and Monastir (TUN), they remain undefeated at the end of Day One.

The powerful (110kg) Jure Erzen was a force for Kranj, scoring clutch free throws late in the game against Trbovlje (SLO) (20-18 in overtime) and dominating versus La Marsa (22-14). He was the team’s best scorer with 17 points.

Team Ljubljana, another Slovenian team, which lost to Kranj in the final of the Lausanne Masters last year before winning the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final, iced two close games, against Marburg (15-13) and Lecco (13-11).

In fact, a #tightgames hashtag seemed to be trending in Lausanne on Friday 29 August with nine out of twelve games decided by two points or less.

Last but not least, the youngest team at the event, Monastir (TUN) pulled two amazing upsets, defeating Amsterdam (NED) (20-18) despite trailing 8-1 early and beating Düsseldorf (GER) in overtime (21-20).

The Lausanne Masters have proved to be even tougher than they were last year and the 2012 FIBA 3x3 World Tour runners-up Team Split (CRO) and the team which finished fifth in Lausanne last season, Düsseldorf (GER) are already out.

At the Dunk Contest Qualifier, Sjoerd Van Vilsteren (Amsterdam) had a nice 180 reverse and an impressive windmill dunk, which prompted him to the Dunk Contest Final tomorrow at 21:00 CET (19:00 GMT) against Porter ‘What’s Gravity’ Maberry and Justin ‘Jus fly’ Darlington.

The event starts again on Saturday at 17:15 with the Samsung Shoot-Out Qualifier, followed by a new test for Team Ljubljana against Amsterdam (NED). The next game between Belgrade (SRB) and Trbovlje (SLO) will be a rematch of the Final of the Lugano Challenger, where Belgrade had won just three weeks ago.

The Quarter-Finals:
Ljubljana (SLO, 1) – Amsterdam (NED, 5)
Belgrade (SRB, 3) – Trbovlje (SLO, 7)
Kranj (SLO, 2) – Menton (FRA, 11)
Monastir (TUN, 12) - Marburg (GER, 8)

All the action will be livestreamed on 3x3’s official YouTube channel.

FIBA