Mega is the first semifinalist of Zurab Sakandelidze and Mikheil Qorqia Memorial

The second round games were held at the Zurab Sakandelidze and Mikheil Qorqia Memorial today and the first semifinalist was revealed. Basketball club Mega won the second match as well in the three-team group and took the first place. The remaining 1 match of this group will only reveal 2-3 place holders, while the first place winner has already been decided. 

Group B; Cactus – Mega 58:66 (Statistics+Video)

The Super League debutant Mega, which beat although halved, but still strong TSU, also defeated Cactus today and is the first of the 12 teams participating in the memorial to win a ticket to the semifinals. 

Since Nikoloz Cherkezishvili took over Mega, they have won 4 matches in a row. The team won the last 2 matches of the first circle of the Super League in December, it also won at the Sakandelidze-Qorqia Memorial yesterday and today and is in the semifinals. Mega has 4 leading legionnaires and if the Georgians also support them sufficiently, the team will compete very successfully. Cherkezishvili’s team won the first period by 18 points and although the opponent, Cactus, which was playing with 2 new legionnaires, reduced the gap to 3 points, in the end, the victory still remained with Mega. 

Tyrell Corbin led the winners with 17 points and 5 assists. Demonte Flannigan scored 14 points and 9 rebounds. Otar Buliava collected 12 points. Jordan Forbes was the most effective in Cactus with 15 points and 9 rebounds. The rookie Derick Newton had 11 points. 

In the last match of this group, TSU will meet Cactus, however, the result of this match will distribute only 2-3 places in the group. 

Group A; Tskhum-Apkhazeti – Kutaisi 79:96 (Statistics+Video)

The final of the memorial will be held on January 25 in Kutaisi, the hometown of Mikheil Qorqia and Zurab Sakandelidze. Naturally, Kutaisians want to compete in the finals in their city and keep the title. In the title match of last year, Kote Tughushi’s team defeated Vera convincingly. 

Kutaisi team took a solid step towards the goal today. Imereti club defeated Tskhum-Apkhazeti by 17 points and in fact guaranteed the first place. Tskhumi defeated Titebi in the first round and now the situation in the group is such that, even if Kutaisi loses to Titebi by 12 points in the last round, it will still go to the first place and, consequently, to the semifinal. 

In today’s match, Tskhum-Apkhazeti resisted the Imereti club for a long time, but it still broke in the final period – got 20 points behind and finally lost without a chance. Adrian Bowie led the winners with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Steven Pledger scored 22 points. Akaki Dvalishvili collected 18 points and 6 rebounds. Jai Williams was the most effective in Tskhum-Apkhazeti with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

As we have mentioned above, Kutaisi will face Titebi in the final match of Group A and will upgrade to the semifinals unless it loses by more than 12 points.

Group C; Dinamo – Rustavi 83:106 (Statistics+Video)

In this group, it is known that Dinamo, as the losing team of both matches, will take the last place, while Rustavi and Vera will meet for the first place. It was precisely these teams that defeated Dinamo – Vera in the battle yesterday and Rustavi today – easily. 

Rustavi lacked several players due to Covid-infection, and youngsters played instead of them. Qvemo Qartli team did not appear to have any loss at all. Anatoly Boisa’s team convincingly defeated the opponent and approached the final.

The match between Vera and Rustavi will be held at the Tbilisi Olympic Palace on January 22, at 14:15.

Group D; Mgzavrebi – Batumi 61:104 (Statistics+Video)

Guessing the winner in this match was easy. Batumi did not leave a chance for Mgzavrebi and will compete with Olimpi for the first place in the group. The match, which has to find out another semi-finalist, will take place on January 22, at the Olympic Palace, at 12:00.

According to the format of the tournament, the teams in the semifinals will be paired as follows:

The winner of Group A will meet the winner of Group D, while the winners of groups B and C will play in the second semifinal. Both semifinals will be held on January 23 at the Olympic Palace, and the final will be hosted by Kutaisi on January 25.