The Georgian national basketball team celebrated the second victory at EuroBasket and has a real chance to play in 1/8 final. The team of Ilias Zouros will say goodbye to EuroBasket only in this case: if Georgia loses to Italy and Ukraine beats Israel.
The game turned out to be very tense and dramatic. Overtime decided the fate of the game. Israel was leading during the whole game. The team of Erez Edelstein won the first and the second quarters with one point.
The start of the second half was bad for us. Israel had a 10-point advantage but Georgia started to minimize the score. However, Israel managed to win the third quarter with one point. In the fourth quarter Georgia improved playing in defense and offense. Manuchar Markoishvili and Michael Dixon scored 3-pointer. Dixon’s 3-point was very important. We were losing with one point and when Michael scored 3-point, we advanced with 2 points. 11 seconds were remaining and Omri Casspi scored 2-point. The game continued in overtime.
Our team held overtime perfectly and gave no chance to the opponent. Overtime finished 15:2 (!).
After losing two games in a row, Georgia won over Israel and has a chance to make through to 1/8 final.
Today Georgia will play Italy at 19:30 Tbilisi time.
Israel – Georgia 91:104 (O.T.) (22:21, 27:26, 21:20, 19:22, 2:15) VIDEO
Israel: Howell (20:08 min, 19 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl). Dawson (06:59 min), Mekel (35:55 min, 23 pts, 1 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 1 block). Eliyahu (31:12 min, 14 pts, 4 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 2 block). Casspi (39:13 min, 16 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 1 block). Pnini (27:46 min, 3 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast). Kadir (02:48 min). Blayzer (12:10 min, 8 pts). Timor (27:30 min, 6 pts, 1 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl), Zalmanson (01:43 min). Ohayon (19:36 min, 2 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl).
Total points: 91, 2-point: 33/53 (62%), 3-point: 3/16 (19%), Free throws: 16/20 (80%). Total rebounds: 22, Defensive rebounds: 20, Offensive rebounds: 2, Assists: 24, Steals: 9, Blocks: 4
Georgia: Dixon (35:49 min, 18 pts, 3 reb, 7 ast). Gamkrelidze (00:30 min), Pachulia (31:04 min, 19 pts, 11 reb, 2 ast). Tsintsadze (25:08 min, 2 pts, 3 ast, 3 stl). Shermadini (13:32 min, 9 pts, 8 reb, 1 ast). Sanadze (33:39 min, 17 pts, 1 reb, 2 ast). Markoishvili (39:14 min, 11 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 1 block). Berishvili (02:56 min, 3 pts, 1 reb). Shengelia (41:23 min, 25 pts, 19 reb, 4 ast, 1 block). Londaridze (01:45 min)
Total points: 104, 2-point: 26/47 (55%), 3-point: 9/23 (39%), Free throws: 25/31 (81%), Total rebounds: 50, Defensive rebounds: 34, Offensive rebounds: 16, Assists: 23, Steals: 5, Blocks: 2.
