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Georgia Rally To Beat Israel 25 July 2007
Georgia put together a furious fourth quarter rally to stun Israel 82-75 in Rethymnon today.
Mikhail Kobedshavidze’s men trailed 64-54 heading into the final period but used a three-point barrage to outscore Israel 26-9 in the fourth quarter and take a memorable win.
Georgia, who went without a field goal for the first 5:30 of the second quarter and trailed 45-36 at the half, made five three-pointers in the final frame.
Tornike Shengelia connected from long range with under four minutes left to play to give his team their first lead since the opening period, 72-70 and they would never concede it again.
Israel trailed 25-24 at the end of the first quarter but, with their opponents struggling on offense, jumped ahead 40-29 on Carmel Buchman’s lay up shortly before half time.
Georgia used a 14-5 spurt right after the break to tie the game at 50 all before Danny Franco’s men responded with a run of their own to build another double-digit lead, 64-54, when Raz Nisim Cohen’s lay-up beat the third quarter buzzer.
However, Israel lost their shooting touch in the final frame while Georgia rediscovered theirs to seal the win.
After the game, as his players mobbed one another, Kobedshavidze was at a loss for words
‘This is an unbelievable result for us,’ he said.
‘We came to this tournament just happy to be here so to get a win against Israel is a great accomplishment.’
‘We were having trouble guarding them with our zone defense so in the second half I told the players to play them one on one full court and I think it worked.’
As for the three-point barrage, he conceded it was no luck, but instead a deliberate choice.
‘We only have one big player inside so we decided we should drive to the basket and try to kick the ball out to shooters and it worked today.’
Shengelia finished with game-highs of 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Beqa Chikviladze added 21 and Givi Bakradze chipped in with 15. The trio accounted for all nine of Georgia’s made three-pointers.
Raz Nisim Cohen led the way for Israel with 17 points and Bouchman had 16 points and nine rebounds.
Tornike Shengelia (Georgia)
Beqa Chikviladze (Georgia)
ევროპის ჩემპიონატი კალათბურთში კადეტთა შორის
