Georgian National Team Lost Second Game At EuroBasket

The Georgian National Team lost game to world champion Spain. In the debut match against Belgium, our team was defeated at the last seconds. Despite several questionable decisions of the judges in favor of the guests Georgians were attacking furious opponent in the first half. Our team could not beat the opponent, but after the break, everything was mixed up.

The team of Ilias Zuros was missing important players. Goga Bitadze started playing in the starting five but left the field in less than 7 minutes and did not return. In the previous match he was injured and after consulting with doctors, the coaches decided to let Bitadze rest. It is worth noting that Shengelia was with the national team today. He returned from Italy with good news: his injury does not require surgery and process of recovery will last about 2 months.

The absence of Bitadze together with Shengelia is huge loss, especially against Spain. The Spaniards coached by Sergio Scoriolo, were unstoppable in third period and won quarter by 31:16, leading by 24 points. This already meant that the Spanish national team has won the game and match ended without any tension on the court. Lately, the Georgians have already begun to think about the upcoming games. Our team needs to win at least 2 out of 3 game to be into the top 4 teams in the group, and advance to the playoffs.

As a result, Georgia lost the match 64:90 (statistics). The best scorer of our team was Rati Andronikashvili with 13 points, while Sandro Mamukelashvili became the most vulnerable player – 10 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Georgie Shermadini contributed 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.

The Georgian national team will held next match against Turkey on September 4. Today, the Turks defeated Bulgaria in tough game by 87:101 (statistics). In the 3rd match of our group, Montenegro beat Belgium by 76:70 (Statistics) This means that if the Belgians and Montenegrins will not win against Spain, in order to qualify the Georgian national team needs to defeat Bulgaria and Montenegro.