3x3 Quest Tour favourites two from two

Karl Noyer and team Precision Movement (PM) remain undefeated after winning the second of six legs at the Basketball New Zealand 3x3 Quest Tour.

The Auckland-based team made the drive to Tauranga this weekend, along with a number of other Auckland teams in the hope of qualifying for the 3x3 World Tour Qualifier event on 9 March, where teams will compete for the prize of an all-expenses paid trip to compete at a FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters event.

Only four more chances remain, with Wellington the next event, to be played at the Wellington Waterfront at Odlins Plaza on Saturday 9 February.

The final in Tauranga was between PM (Karl Noyer, Lis Haraqia, Samuel Aruwa and Zac Eathope) and team Authentic Ballers (Michael Trusty, Justin Kahotea and Zachary Preston). PM came out victories by running down the clock, winning 17 to 13. Although making the final was celebration enough for the Authentic Ballers, who will get their chance to revenge the loss in March - they still won a qualifying spot for the World Tour Qualifier, as PM had already qualified the week before in Auckland.

PMs winning Captain, Karl Noyer, said it was great to see the qualifying spots hotly contested.

"The biggest thing is that there were more teams than Auckland, which was unexpected. Great to see a number of out of town teams trying to qualify. The final with Authentic Ballers provided really stiff competition, they are a very physical team with lots of basketball experience. Were really forward to the final and to also see what other teams qualify," said Noyer.

Authentic Ballers Michael Trusty said they the team was thrilled to make the World Tour Qualifier and that the Authentic Ballers will be better prepared and with an additional player come March.

"Pool play was really laid out well. Its was an exciting format with the pools and then into the quarter-finals. We played PM in the pool play and went down 8 to 12, but I feel we did better in the final giving them a run for their money. Their size and physically was hard to overcome. We were a little disadvantaged with no sub, but will be looking to add a fourth for the final in Auckland. I love the FIBA format of 3x3 having played a lot of it in the USA. Were already making plans for the final, adding our fourth player and will definitely be looking to continue with working on our team play and strategy," said Trusty.

Basketball New Zealand 3x3 Manager, David Huxford, said the Tauranga event was a great success and is looking forward to bringing the show to Wellington this Weekend.

The Tauranga event was great turnout with 36 teams, 19 of those in the Open Mens event. We were especially pleased to see enough teams to form an Under 15 female pool. The girls havent been showing up in great numbers recently and we hope they will rally their friends and we will be seeing more girls playing in the remaining events in Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch and on the North Shore. This Quest Tour offers a really friendly, welcoming and fun environment, so I encourage everyone to get a team together and to join in," says Huxford.

The grades are tailored depending on entries. Another four stops remain in tour. Entry is free. To register, it is essential that all players have an official play.fiba3x3.com profile. Creating a profile is easy and only takes about three minutes. Once created, players must respond to the confirmation email, then register for the relevant event. Players can enter, track their results and compare their ranking to their friends and other 3x3 players internationally.

Results:

- Open Mens: Team PM beat Authentic Ballers 17 to 13.

- Senior Mixed: Team CBF winning 12 to team Big Brothers 10.

- Under 15 Female: Team WSB won over team Chicken Nuggets, 8 to 5.

- Under 15 Male: Team K.O.K.U beat The Hand Me Downs, 21 to 13.

- Under 17 Male: Team Blue beat team Tama Toa, 13 to 11.

- The Sals Authentic Pizza Slam Dunk Competition was won by Troy Kururangi from Team 884.

- The Mai FM Shootout Kobe Olsen-Matara from team BLUE.

- All the teams and results can be found here:
https://play.fiba3x3.com/events/bdd69e60-c4b8-4509-afdf-01d4998bd4a8/teams

3x3 Quest Tour Schedule, 2019:

- Sun 20 Jan Auckland-West The Trusts Arena, Henderson, Auckland

- Sat 2 Feb Tauranga Harbourside Netball Centre, Blake Park, Mt Maunganui

- Sat 9 Feb Wellington Odlins Plaza, Wellington Waterfront

- Sun 17 Feb Dunedin The Octagon, Dunedin

- Sat 23 Feb Christchurch Hagley Park Netball Courts

- Sat 2 Mar Auckland- North Eventfinda Stadium (formerly NSEC), North Shore

- Sat 9 Mar Auckland- QUEST FINAL- Auckland City YMCA, Pitt Street

- This final event is the World Tour Qualifier Final and is only open to the Open Men's Grade teams that qualified at one of the above regional events. No other grades will play at this event.

More info:

- More details on the tour:
http://nz.basketball/3x3-Quest-Tour

- Sign up for the tour via play.fiba3x3.com

- Follow the event on Basketball New Zealands Social media accounts on @BasketballNZ via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand