FIBA 3x3 World Championships 2016 Results: Scores and Highlights from Thursday

Both the American men's and women's teams were in action Thursday at the FIBA 3x3 World Championships in Guangzhou, China, and while they enjoyed varying levels of success, they each managed to advance to the knockout stage. 

The United States men's team picked up a pair of victories to finish pool play undefeated, while the women suffered their first-ever loss at the FIBA 3x3 World Championships to Spain, but they still managed to reach the quarterfinals.

With just one day of pool action remaining, here is a full recap of Thursday's scores, as well as a look at some of the top highlights from the men's and women's draws.

Men's Recap

Group	Winning Team	Losing Team	Score
D	Netherlands	Turkey	14-8
D	United States	Japan	21-12
D	Turkey	China	22-19
D	Netherlands	Japan	21-12
D	United States	China	21-15
A	Qatar	New Zealand	21-16
A	Serbia	Italy	16-13
A	Qatar	Russia	20-17
A	Russia	Italy	20-17
A	Serbia	New Zealand	20-17

Team USA is in search of its first-ever FIBA 3x3 world title on the men's side, and it took another huge step toward accomplishing that Thursday, as the Americans were victorious against both Japan and China to finish pool play 4-0.

Like the United States, Japan entered Thursday undefeated, but that mark was quickly blemished in a 21-12 tilt that saw the Americans complete several highlight-reel plays:

Team USA wasn't done there, though, as the impressive squad of Stefhon Hannah, Myke Henry, Kavon Lytch and Alfonzo McKinnie ensured that China would finish with a winless record at its home venue:

Elsewhere in Pool D, the Netherlands entered Thursday's action likely needing a pair of victories and some help to advance to the knockout round despite being the No. 5 seed.

That is precisely what happened, as the Dutch team beat both Turkey and Japan, and with the Japanese side losing both of its games, the Netherlands moved on.

One of the day's top highlights came courtesy of the Netherlands' 14-8 triumph over the Turks, as Sjoerd van Vilsteren finished a beautiful alley-oop with a monster jam:

Pool A was also in action, and it saw Serbia continue to assert itself as arguably the team to beat in the entire tournament.

The top-ranked Serbs won the pool with a 4-0 record after taking down both Italy and New Zealand, although both were tight games, with Serbia winning by just three points in each.

The clash with Italy was especially close, as Serbia had to overcome a deficit in the final minute to win, as seen in this video from the FIBA 3x3 Twitter account:

Serbia was the runner-up two years ago and the inaugural champion in 2012, and it looks to be among the top contenders once again.

It has some company, though, in the form of 2014 champion Qatar, which won both of its games Thursday to also advance with a 3-1 mark.

Women's Recap

Group	Winning Team	Losing Team	Score
C	Italy	Japan	21-6
C	United States	Chinese Taipei	17-8
C	Spain	Japan	18-7
C	Italy	Chinese Taipei	17-11
C	Spain	United States	21-16
B	Hungary	Argentina	14-11
B	Australia	Macau	20-11
B	Argentina	Andorra	12-4
B	Australia	Hungary	12-11
B	Andorra	Macau	18-13

The United States women are the two-time reigning FIBA 3x3 world champions and had never lost a match entering play Thursday, but that changed thanks to a huge effort from Spain.

After the Americans made easy work of Chinese Taipei and Spain did the same to Japan, the teams met with the Spaniards desperately needing a win to advance.

Italy had already won its two games to move to 3-1, and Spain came through with its back against the wall by producing a 21-16 win, which led to a massive celebration:

As seen in the full highlight package of the game, Spain gave the Americans fits throughout and proved that it could be threats to win the world title for the first time:

By virtue of Spain's win, there was a three-way tie between Spain, the United States and Italy at 3-1.

The Americans captured the top spot due to their 75 points scored, while Spain edged out Italy for the second quarterfinal position since it outscored the Italians 71-67.

Italy had high hopes entering the tournament as the No. 3 seed, but it got stuck in the so-called Group of Death, which led to an early exit.

Much like Pool C, Pool B was highly competitive, and it, too, required a tiebreaker to determine who would move on.

Second-seeded Hungary sealed its place in the knockout stage despite dropping a 12-11 decision to Australia, as it beat Argentina 14-11, finished 3-1 and scored the most points in the group with 67.

The second and final spot came down to Argentina and Australia, and despite the Aussies scoring wins over Macau and Hungary on Thursday, they finished third behind Argentina.

Australia and the Argentinians both scored a total of 62 points, but Argentina beat the Australians on Tuesday, which was enough to push the South American side into the next round.

All four teams that advanced in the women's draw showed some level of vulnerability during pool play, which is a sign that unpredictability could rule the day in the quarters.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.