(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: Latvian heavyweights Riga successfully defended their FIBA 3x3 World Tour Doha Masters title when they staged a brilliant comeback to down tournament favourites Limen in a thrilling 21:20 buzzer-beater yesterday.
In a repeat of last year's final, Riga and Limen proved they were worthy finalists after crushing their opponents on their way to the title clash yesterday. In last year's Doha finale, Riga overcame the Serbian giants in a tense final to win their maiden Masters title with a 15-14 margin.
Yesterday, at the state-of-the-art Al Gharafa Sports Complex, Riga were down 20-15 with just over three minutes remaining.
Riga, the number 3 team in the world, relentlessly bridged the gap until Karlis Lasmanis hit an impossible Tissot Buzzer Beater off the dribble from way behind the arc to earn his team a 21-20 win.
The 26-year-old lefty stepped up in the final with a game-high 11 points. It was a team effort for Riga all weekend though as sharpshooter Edgars Krumins topped all scorers (34 points in 5 games) and the speedy Nauris Miezis received the MVP trophy - from the First Vice President of the Qatar Olympic Committee and FIBA Asia President, Sheikh Saud bin Ali Al Thani and Qatar Basketball Federation President Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Muftah - after leading his team in key assists, rebounds and player value.
Riga completed a clean sweep at the Doha event this year with a 5-0 record after the title win. The Latvian side and Liman have combined to win all four FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters this season.
They will meet again at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final, which will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia next month.
Earlier, Lusail, the home team, lost to Lutena 8-21 in the quarter-finals. Lutena later went down to eventual champions in the semi-finals.
In the individual contests, Chris Staples (USA) won the McDonald's Dunk Contest while former FIBA Basketball World Cup participant Kostas Vasileiadis (from Greece, playing for Lusail, QAT) dominated the Tissot shoot-out contest.
All the health and safety measures requested by the Ministry of Public Health and the Guidelines for the Return to Basketball, developed by the FIBA Medical Advisory Group (MAG), which were successfully introduced for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour return in Debrecen, were implemented during the event.
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