FIBA EuroBasket Roundup Day 5: Georgia and Slovenia win (Part-6)
Georgia 69 – Ukraine 53
In a matchup to determine the third place in Group D to complete the second round berths, Georgia emerged from behind after two successive defeats and knocked down Ukraine in a stunning 69-53 victory.
Trailing by three points after halftime, Georgia was powered by their shooting guard Manuchar Markoishvili and U20 Division B European Championship MVP Tornike Shengelia, who guided the team on the top tremendously. Manuchar finished
with a game-high 14 points and 5 assists while Tornike accumulated 12 points and 7 rebounds as Georgia became the third and the final team from Group D to excel in the second round.
From Ukraine, Oleksiy Pecherov and Steve Bertt were the only players who landed in double figures and ended the game with 11 points apiece.
Ukraine’s big man Pecherov was disappointed with his team efforts who failed to carry the momentum in the second half of the game.
"We played good for one half but didn't show up to the second half. It happens to us all the time and we if we want to win games here we need to play good for 40 minutes." Pecherov said.
Ukraine headed out commandingly in the first half and procured a comprehensive 17-10 lead. Despite of Georgia’s tremendous fight back in the second quarter, Ukraine managed to keep themselves on the frontline going into the halftime
when the scoreboard read 33-30.
Georgia displayed a magnificent team effort in the second half of the game and dominated Ukraine from both the ends of the court. Restricting the opposition to 20 points, Georgia’s 39 points addition to the score board in the last
two quarters gave them a spectacular 69-53 win.
Slovenia 70 – Belgium 61
In an encounter between a stronger and weaker team of Group D, the mighty Slovenia maintained their reputation of being unbeaten in the tournament on Sunday night after handing Belgium their fourth straight loss in the 2011 European
Championship.
Even after cementing their chances to qualify in the next round, Slovenia showed no sign of retreat and continued the domination on the court. Goran Dragic and Mirza Begic were the top performers in Slovenia’s line-up who scored
18 and 14 points respectively.
Belgium was also outclassed by Slovenia in the battle of the boards 28-40. Although Belgium shot an impressive percentage from the charity strip however Slovenia gave only 15 chances to the opposition in which they connected 11
free throws. In comparison, Belgium made a number of fouls in the game, allowing Slovenia 27 shots from the free throw line.
Belgium surprisingly dominated in the first two quarters and managed to gain 30-29 lead going into the half time. However Belgium completely lost momentum in the second half when Slovenia decided to clinch their fourth straight
victory.
Slovenia received a major boost-up from their bench in the last two quarters which fired up their offensive system and as a result Slovenia smashed the opposition with 41 points to seal yet another victory in the first round.
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