The Georgian national basketball team has a chance to play at World Cup 2019. The team of Ilias Zouros started the second qualifying round in Tel Aviv where they beat Israel.
The Georgian basketball players had advantage for 30 minutes. The first quarter was very tense but Georgia won it 26:23.
The Georgians held the best second quarter and won the first half with 12 points. However, Israel started the second half aggressively. As a result, our opponent managed to equalize score and even advanced.
Israel finished the first half with 37 points and scored 31 points in the third quarter. The end of the game was very tense and finally, Georgia won 85:80.
Our leader Tornike Shengelia lacked one rebound for double-double. He earned 22 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Goga Bitadze also lacked one rebound for double-double. He gained 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks (!).
New legionary Matt Janning had a good debut in the team. He earned 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 36 minutes. Duda Sanadze also held a good game. He gained 17 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Giorgi Tsintsadze could not score a point but he earned 7 assists. Giorgi Shermadini (9), Merab Bokolishvili (3) and Mikheil Berishvili (6) also brought points to the team.
Georgia has 3 wins and 4 defeats and is in the fourth place. The team will hold the next game against Greece on September 16 in Tbilisi.
Israel - Georgia 80:85 (23:26, 14:23, 31:16, 12:20)
