Kutaisi and Titebi will meet in the final of Dudu Dadiani Memorial

Titebi joined Kutaisi in the Dudu Dadiani finals. The team coached by Beso Lezhava defeated Tbilisi State University in the semifinal match. Titebi players had a glorious third period, after which they put an elegant point to the match – 74:67 (Statistics).

Titebi has been in the final of Dudu Dadiani Memorial once before – in 2018, but then the title was won by their rival Delta. As for another finalist this year – Kutaisi, the Imereti club won the Dadiani Cup twice – in 2011 and 2020, and twice – in 2015 and 2016, lost finals to Kazakh Barsi and Dinamo Tbilisi, respectively.

Titebi was not considered a favorite with TSU at first, but late last night, after it became known about the severity of the injury of TSU’s captain and leader Giorgi Tsintsadze, Lezhava’s team was given a hope. For its part, Titebi also lacked one of the leaders, Levan Babilodze, however, the legionnaries and Georgian players of the team fought exemplarily and gained a praiseworthy victory.

In Tsintsadze’s absence, Lovell Cabbil played as a point guard in TSU. The second legionnaire, Darrel Owens was helping him a lot and the team did a great job at the beginning. In the first period TSU was 23:18, then they further strengthened the leadership and advanced by 7 points for the big break – 39:32.

In the third period, Titebi turned the game around. This is primarily the merit of Akaki Lomouri, who scored 4 three-pointers in the third ten minutes and gave a significant boost to the lead of Titebi. Beso Lezhava’s team won the mentioned period 23:12 and advanced 55:51 before the last quarter.

In the final period, the game went equally and the score was tied in the last minute (67:67). The players of Titebi showed more accuracy and reliability in defense here. TSU forward Mikheil Berishvili received a technical foul in one episode, which was well used by Jordan Robertson and Titebi advanced 68:67. The key episode was when Lovell Cabbil lost the ball and Akaki Lomouri scored the crucial three-pointer and when the university team wasn’t able to respond well to the attack, the fate of the meeting was clarified.

Akaki Lomouri led the winners with 17 points (5 three-pointers) and 16 rebounds, strengthening positions for his team. Jordan Robertson became a top-scorer, Guja Birkaia had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Lovell Cabbil was the most effective in TSU with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists. Nikoloz Darbaidze collected 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The final match, in which Kutaisi and Titebi will meet for Dudu Dadiani’s cup, will be held at the Olympic Palace on October 10, at 18:00.