Lausanne (SWITZERLAND) – Paris (FRA) was on fire all tournament, defeating Raudondvaris Hoptrans (LTU) 21 – 15 in the final to win the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Lausanne 2024 on August 17.
It would be a battle of the Olympic medalists as both sides would boast members of the Paris Olympic contingent who represented Lithuania and France respectively.
The French side went unbeaten in Lausanne, handling business each step of the way, even defeating eventual final opponents Raudondvaris in the opener.
Each Frenchmen had their moment to shine in the tournament, with Franck Seguela being a consistent threat on offense while Hugo Suhard came in clutch multiple times. They defeated fellow French side Marseille in the Semis thanks to a late second bucket from Jules Rambaut.
They would go up against Raudondvaris who did well to bounce back from a loss to Paris in the pool phase. They got crucial victories against Dusseldorf and Liman in the knockout stages to book their spot in the final.
Paris got off to an early hot start thanks to twos from Paul Djoko and Hugo Suhard. Raudondvaris cemented their presence in the paint early, but the French side held the early advantage.
Scores stood 5 – 2 in the favor of the French. A physical battle throughout, Djoko pushed the pace with and-one buckets. The Lithuanian side kept the pressure on as they forced Paris into falling into foul trouble. With momentum on their side, they pulled things back to just a one-point deficit at 9 – 10.
Big-time perimeter scoring from Suhard and Seguela kept Paris ahead. With time just under 2 minutes to go, Paris started to pull away with a 16 – 11 lead.
Suhard made yet another massive two before Seguela followed it up with a bucket, making it 19 – 13 with just seconds to go. Raudondvaris tried to mount a comeback, but it was Paris who held on and came away with a huge 21 – 15 win to claim the World Tour Lausanne stop.
Seguela was once again the heart of team Paris. He finished the tournament with a whopping 37 points, a tournament-high along with the highest player value with 47.5. The Frenchman would earn himself MVP recognition.
In the individual contests, Liman’s (SRB) Stefan Kojic won the Maurice Lacroix shoot-out contest while Doug Anderson won the Geneve Airport dunk contest.
