Dramatic end of the tense tour: Mega - Orbi 79:78

The 5th round of A League turned out to be the most tense in this season. Today, the first match held at the Olympic Palace ended with a difference of 2 points, the second – with one point, and in the last match of the tour, Mega coached by Guga Pataraia defeated Orbi 79:78 (Statistics). The last minutes of the meeting turned out to be extremely dramatic and tense. The match, which lasted almost the entire game equally, ended with an unexpected episode.

Armani Flannigan, an American legionnaire from Orbi, who was alone in the three-second zone, missed a ball accompanied by a siren sound. If he had scored it, his team would have won 80:79. Obviously, Flannigan didn’t expect to perform a decisive shot alone, as he got the ball suddenly, after his teammate Jordan Walker made a decisive breakthrough, but the ball bounced off Mega’s basket, got to Armani’s hands and…

However, 4:30 minutes before the end of the game, Mega was winning by 7 points (74:67), which was a solid advantage in such an equal match. Orbi players coached by Irakli Tomaradze made maximum efforts, fought to the end and advanced 78:75 as a result of the 11:1 escape. 1 minute before the end Aston Francis equalized the score with a three-pointer, after which a cascade of bilateral mistakes started, which ended with a foul of Nika Lolishvili against Mega’s American legionnaire Trevond Barnes 6 seconds before the final siren. Barnes scored the first free throw and advanced his team 79:78, but missed the second one. Jordan Walker rebounded, crossed the whole court and made the decisive breakthrough in vain, as we’ve mentioned above. After this, Flannigan missed a very disappointing shot for Orbi and its fans.

Beqa Chikviladze led the winners with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Jalen Bradley scored 17 points. Trevond Barnes and Aston Francis had 14-14 points each. Diago Quinn was the most effective in Orbi with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Jordan Walker scored 18 points and 10 rebounds. Nika Leonidze collected 15 points. 

At the end of the first round there is 1 match left, which will be held on March 18: Sportuni against Mega.