Viktor Sanikidze scored three-point arc in the match against Croatian team before the end of the match and he promoted Georgian team with 76:75. We were very close to the second victory in EuroBasket but in the responsive attack, Ante Tomic scored 2 points and the score became 77:76. Final attack was the Georgians, if Giorgi Tsintsadze, who held excellent match, attack more correctly once again, everything would be end beneficially for us. Giorgi scored 13 from 25 points in the final attack…
As we expected, the match against Croatia proved to be the heaviest. Despite the fact, that the majority of Croatian fans boycotted the team, due to their shameful defeat against Spain, and they even did not enter in the hall of Celje. The opponent found the strength in themselves and faced their fans differently. But, Georgian team, which pleasantly surprises us in these two matches, did not made concessions to the opponent and they missed only 1 shoot for the victory.
Igor Kokoshkov most loaded team leaders. It was a risky move, but as the match against Croatia was of great importance, the risk was justified. Unfortunately, we were a little bit unlucky.
Finally, Manuchar Markoishvili, Viktor Sanikidze, Giorgi Shermadini and Giorgi Tsintsadze played more than 33 minutes, Nika Metreveli, Otar Pkhakadze and Duda Sanadze has not played. About the good game of Tsintsadze we said above. Shermadini scored 10 points and 9 rebounds, and like the match against Poland, he was one point away from double-doubles. Sanikidze score 15 points and 7 rebounds. As for Markoishvili, unfortunately the game did not go well for him. “Manu” ended the match with 4 points, and after the game, he apologized to fans and teammates.
The best match held Ricky Hikmann, naturalized American back liner, he scored 20 points in 27:06 minutes and used 7 shots from 9 (including 3 of 3 in three points). We hope that in the future matches Hikmann will be useful as well.
As for the game, the Croats were in the role of leaders during 27:29 minutes and maybe, their victory was natural, but after the game their head coach Jasmin Repesa mentioned, that their success was conditioned by luckiness.
The Georgian team played very accurately (we got the first personal foul a minute before the end of the first quarter), but there was a lot of mistakes in attack. In the result, Croatian team promoted with 25:17 and they got in a good mood, but this did not last for long. The Georgian team played excellent the next round and 50 seconds earlier of big break Giorgi Shermadini promoted the Georgians with exact attack.
Finally, the Croats won the round (35:34), but no one could promote with a big difference. The apprentices of Igor Kokoshkov, the most successful period had in the middle ¾, when they scored 9 unanswered points and fixed the greatest advantage during the match (45:40).
Virtually, the same thing happened in the 4th period, but this time Croats did their best. The opponent made the score 61:56 from 53:56. The Georgians were able to eliminate this backlog and they promoted again 20 second earlier. Unfortunately, Tomic who scored 7 points became the final score of the game.
To explain success of Croats, looking through the statistics is enough. If the apprentices of Jasmin Repesa, scored only 2 three-points from 17, this time they used 11 distant shots from 22. From this side, Dontaye Draper, naturalized defender of Croats, showed himself, who scored 4 three-points from 5 and he was the best in the team with 16 points. It should be also told, that Draper scored 10 points from 16 in the final quarter…
September 6 is the rest day in C group. On September 7, Georgian team will held the next match against Slovenia. The match will start at 23:00 Tbilisi time, before this the matches between Spain –Czech and Croat – Poland are scheduled.
European Championship 2013 in Basketball. C group. Celje (Slovenia). Second round. 1800 spectators.
Croatia – Georgia 77:76 (17:15, 18:19, 15:18, 27:24)
Croatia: Tomic (21 min. 7 p. 7 as.), Bogdanovic (35 min. 15 p.), Ukic (25 min. 6 p. 3 as.), Simon (38 min. 9 p. 6 reb.), Markota (24 min. 10 p. 3 reb.); Andric (4 min.), Draper (19 min. 16 p. 4 reb. 3 as.), Saric (16 min. 12 p.), Zoric (16 min. 2 p. 3 reb.), Delas (3 min.).
Head coach: Jasmin Repesa.
Georgia: Tsintsadze (36 min. 25 p. 3 reb. 5 as.), Shermadini (34 min. 10 p. 9 reb.), Markoishvili (34 min. 4 p.), Patsatsia (9 min.), Sanikidze (33 min. 15 p. 7 reb.); Burjanadze (9 min. 2 p.), Hikmann (27 min. 20 p. 3 reb.), Lejava (10 min.), Tskitishvili (3 min.),
Head coach: Igor Kokoshkov.
Referee: Boris Rijik (Ukraine), Olegs Latisevs (Latvia), Aleksandar Miloevic (Macedonia).
Team stats
Croatia – Georgia
Field goals: 31/57 – 31/63
Two pointers: 20/35 (57.1%) – 24/43 (55.8%)
Three pointers: 11/22 (50.0%) – 7/20 (35.0%)
Free throws: 4/9 (44.4%) – 7/13 (53.8%)
Rebounds: 29 (off 6) – 30 (def 10)
Assist: 18 – 11
Turnovers: 11 – 6
Steals: 2 – 6
Block-shots: 0 – 2
Personal foul: 21 – 15
Point after turnover: 4 – 10
Point from 3-minute zone: 30:38
“Second chance” point: 5 – 12
Point after offence: 6 – 2
Substitutes point: 30 – 22
Biggest leadership: 8 – 5
Biggest “run”: 8:0 (61:56) – 9:0 (40:45)
Change of leader: 8
Draw score: 6
Leadership time: 27:29 – 8:42
Dato Manjavidze, special correspondent of www.worldsport.ge from Celje
EuroBasket-2013 is presented by online bookmaker TBILISIBET.COM and Spanish sports clothing manufacturer Joma
