Georgian U18 team started European Championship (B division) with a victory. The team trained by Temur Kankia defeated Slovakia in a debut match – 80:45. It is true, the match was mostly equal in the first half, Slovakians even advanced couple of times, but situation has changed in favor of Georgia after the big break. Our team set a full control over the match.
For the 15th minute of the match, Slovakians were 3-points ahead, but it was fault of our inaccurate shoots. Georgians missed too many three-pointers. The situation has changed at the decisive minutes of the second period, when our team became more mobilized and advanced by 6 points – 32:26.
Everything was decided in the third period. Georgia won it 27:5 (!) and gained 28-points leadership before the final quarter – 59:31. Eventually, Georgians won with a huge difference – 45:80.
Rati Andronikashvili led the winners with 16 points, 7 assists and 6 steals. Alexandre Merkviladze scored 6/6 two-pointers and 15 points in total. Nikoloz Gaprindashvili had 13 points. Bidzina Peiqrishvili collected 7 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
North-Macedonia defeated Ireland in our group and Ukraine beat Denmark. Georgia will play against Denmark on July 27. The match will start at 19:30 (Georgian time).
