Georgian U18 team lost to North Macedonia

Georgian U-18 team was close to the first victory in Skopje, where the European Challenger of the continent’s leading teams is taking place. After losing to Spain in the first round of the tournament, our team coached by Davit Rogava and Kakha Tomaradze faced the host North Macedonia and lost in a tense battle- 66:69 (Statistics).

Georgian team was leading most of the match. In the second period, the advantage of the Georgians reached 9 points, when we advanced 46:37, However, when they were significantly behind, the hosts were taking a minute break and it was working.

Both teams focused on long-range shots and in this component, the Georgians significantly defeated the opponent by 5 points, however, the Macedonians had an advantage under the cover thanks to the tall players, and they were reducing the lag mostly at the expense of that.

The fate of the match was decided at the last minute. Georgian team was losing by 2 points and attacking. Giorgi Ochkhikidze, the top scorer of the Georgians, made the decisive shot from the perimeter, but he unfortunately, missed it and when Macedonians rebounded, the fate of this meeting was decided there.

Ochkhikidze led Georgians with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Luka Liklikadze scored 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Guga Natsvlishvili had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Giorgi Meskhi had 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Georgian team will hold another match on August 5 against one of the leaders of the group, Serbia. The match will start at 20:00 Tbilisi time.