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

The 2016 FIBA 3x3 World Championships came to a close in Guangzhou, China, on Saturday with Serbia claiming the men's title and the Czech Republic winning on the women's side.

It's the second championship in three tries for the Serbian squad. It also won the tournament's inaugural title in 2012 and finished as the runner-up to Qatar in 2014. The United States and Slovenia earned the other places on the podium in this year's showcase.

The Czech Republic brought an end to the United States' reign in the women's event. The nation failed to reach the semifinals in 2012 and finished fourth in 2014 before breaking through Saturday. Ukraine and Team USA, which won the first two titles, finished second and third, respectively.

Let's check out the complete set of results from the knockout rounds in both tournaments. That's followed by a recap of the action from each bracket.

Men's Recap

Round	Winning Team	Losing Team	Score
Quarterfinals	Serbia	Netherlands	22-10
Quarterfinals	Spain	Uruguay	22-6
Quarterfinals	Slovenia	Hungary	21-10
Quarterfinals	United States	Qatar	12-11
Semifinals	Serbia	Spain	17-13
Semifinals	United States	Slovenia	17-15
3rd Place	Slovenia	Spain	17-16
Championship	Serbia	United States	21-16

The best game of the quarterfinal round saw the United States survive a defensive battle with the reigning champions from Qatar. The 23 combined points represented the lowest total of any men's game played during the knockout rounds.

Serbia established itself as the team to beat right away Saturday by blowing out the Netherlands, though. The team, which won each game of pool play by at least three points, has been on a different level defensively since the 3x3 World Championships were established.

The trend continued in the semifinals as the Serbs held Spain to just 13 points to punch their ticket to their third consecutive title game. It set up a meeting with the Americans, who squeaked out a victory over second-seeded Slovenia to reach the final for the first time.

Serbia was simply too much in the final. Dusan Domovic Bulut, Dejan Majstorovic, Marko Savic and Marko Zdero kept the United States at bay and out of rhythm on offense long enough to reclaim the trophy it lost two years ago against Qatar.

Austin Ampeloquio of the Temple News commented on the Serbia win:

Although the championship won't completely erase Serbia basketball's memory of the romp by the United States when the countries met for the Olympic gold in Rio, it's at least a small measure of revenge that further established the Serbs as the kings of the men's 3x3 game.

Women's Recap

Round	Winning Team	Losing Team	Score
Quarterfinals	Czech Republic	Netherlands	16-11
Quarterfinals	United States	Argentina	17-5
Quarterfinals	Spain	Hungary	21-13
Quarterfinals	Ukraine	France	21-10
Semifinals	Czech Republic	United States	21-18
Semifinals	Ukraine	Spain	19-15
3rd Place	United States	Spain	20-14
Championship	Czech Republic	Ukraine	21-11

A wild quarterfinal round, which saw the higher-ranked team lose all four games, set the stage for an entertaining finish to the women's tournament.

The upsets were highlighted by the Czech Republic knocking out the top-seeded Netherlands. The sudden surge by the Czechs came as a surprise after they opened the tournament with a narrow victory over the Cook Islands and a lopsided loss to France on Wednesday.

Those early struggles were a thing of the past Saturday. After using a strong defensive effort to upend the Dutch, the Czech Republic turned on the afterburners offensively to push past the two-time defending champion United States in the semifinals.

The Americans, who crushed Argentina in the quarters, bounced back to win the bronze with a convincing victory over Spain in the third-place game.

It was the Czech Republic's day to shine, though.

There was no letdown in the championship game after those memorable triumphs to start the day. The quartet of Sara Krumpholcova, Katerina Novotna, Michaela Uhrova and Tereza Vorlova combined to score a routine victory over Ukraine to secure the gold.

The Czech Republic ended up winning five straight games after its lackluster start in order to capture the title. It will now head for Nantes, France, next June to defend the crown.