HAMBURG, Germany (Sept. 28, 2024) – Roughly two weeks removed from its first-place finish at the FIBA 3x3 Kaohsiung Challenger in Taiwan, Team Miami captured second place at the FIBA 3x3 Hamburg Challenger on Sept. 28. Dylan Travis, James Parrott, Mitch Hahn and Trey Bardsley fell just two points short of the title in Germany.
After winning three straight bouts, Miami squared off against Paris (France) in the tournament’s final contest. Despite the final result, Miami remained in control for a bulk of the contest. The Americans managed to forge a 14-11 edge before Paris, with a combination of two-level scoring, brought it to 18 apiece.
Paris struck once more from 2-point land to make it 20-18. Parrott responded with a dunk but the Parisians ended the game with a driving layup. In the 21-19 defeat, Parrott finished with eight points and five boards, Travis added six points and Bardsley and Hahn combined for five.
Pitted against Mataro (Spain) in the semifinals, Miami leaned on 2024 USA 3x3 Men’s National Teamer Travis’ 2-point marksmanship for a majority of the match. Eight of Miami’s first 11 points came from outside but Mataro refused to relinquish any type of interior aggressiveness during the 2-point barrage.
Up 11-10, however, is when Miami really pressed its offensive gas pedal. Following a pair of Parrott free throws, Travis netted back-to-back 2-point looks to flip the one-point lead into a six-point margin. Mataro would pull within four but the Americans’ advantage proved too sizable to overcome.
Travis ended the game with two straight free throws with 2:40 left to seal the 21-14 victory and spot in Miami’s third straight FIBA 3x3 Men's World Tour final of September. He produced a game-high 11 points off four made 2-pointers while Bardsley added seven tallies to steer their platoon towards the tournament’s finale.
Prior to its semifinal test against the Spaniards, Miami claimed its second win of the weekend in a back-and-forth battle vs. Dusseldorf (Germany) to open knockout play in the quarterfinals. From the 7:38 minute mark on, the two combined for nine ties and three lead changes until the final scoring sequence.
For the first six minutes of the game, virtually every bucket from each group arrived from inside the arch until Travis nailed a 2-pointer with 3:53 minutes on the game clock to knot it at 11. Parrott rode the momentum to put Miami up 13-11 with two straight scores from the free throw line but Dusseldorf countered with a 2-pointer on the ensuing possession.
The margin remained razor-thin until Bardsley canned a 2-point field goal with 27 seconds to go. The Germans scored a 1-pointer on the next sequence but Bardsley wasn’t done just yet. Up 20-19, he fielded a shovel pass from Travis and drilled a 2-pointer to ice the 22-19 win.
The quartet put together a balanced offensive output throughout; Travis led the team with seven points and four boards, Parrott and Bardlsey added six and Hahn finished with three.
To punch its ticket to the quarterfinals, Miami extinguished Podgorica (Montenegro) in a strong display of outside shooting. The Americans kick-started the action with a 7-2 burst, which featured a gnarly alley-oop dunk from the high-flying Parrott, in under two minutes of play.
The Montenegrins countered with a 2-point strike, but Miami wouldn’t be denied. Backed by four combined 2-pointers from Bardsley and Hahn, the squad engineered an extended 10-4 burst to make it 17-8 with over five minutes to play.
Miami would allow just two more Montenegrin points before Hahn ended the contest from beyond the arc to secure the 21-10 win. The big man finished with a team-best eight points off three made 2-pointers while Bardsley, his running mate at the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Men's AmeriCup, added seven points off three looks from outside as well.
Before conquering Podgorica, the foursome opened pool play with a bout against St. Pauli (Germany). Facing a 3-1 hole within the first 95 ticks of play, Bardsley and Hahn rattled off four consecutive scores to flip the Americans’ early deficit into a one-point edge. The two foes would exchange hoops and combine for three ties until St. Pauli nailed three 1-pointers to establish a 13-10 advantage with 3:22 to spare.
Travis immediately responded with a 2-pointer, but the Germans orchestrated a 4-0 spurt in just under a minute to make it a five-point affair. Bardsley and Parrott brought it to within one, but it was too little, too late.
St. Pauli ended the contest on a 3-1 spurt and walked off the half-court with a 20-17 triumph. Bardsley captained the crew with six points off a pair of 2-pointers, Hahn accounted for five points and four rebounds and Parrott added four tallies.
For full results of the FIBA 3x3 Hamburg Challenger, click here.