Georgia pull out double-overtime win against Türkiye

Turkish team taste 1st defeat in EuroBasket 2022

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Georgia pulled out an 88-83 double-overtime victory against Türkiye in the EuroBasket 2022 on Sunday.

Türkiye led 25-19 at the end of the first half but Georgia had a good start in the second quarter, building a 17-8 lead.

With a minute and 40 seconds remaining in the second period, the game was 29-29. The Georgian forward Alexander Mamukelashvili shot two free throws to make it 31-29.

Georgia took a four-point lead at the end of the third period as they netted 17 points at Tbilisi Arena.

Türkiye's Furkan Korkmaz and Georgia's Duda Sanadze were disqualified in the fourth quarter for arguing with each other with four minutes and twenty-six seconds to go.

Alperen Sengun buried a two-pointer which broke a 66-66 tie with 11.2 left, making 68-66, but Sandro Mamukelashvili leveled the game again with two seconds remaining, 68-68.

In the overtime, Sengun put on a show to carry his squad to the second overtime after making one of two free throws, this time with 0.8 seconds left.

Also, the Turkish side lost its head coach Ergin Ataman due to a disqualifying foul in the second overtime.

Mamukelashvili scored 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead his team to victory as Thaddus Mcfadden accompanied his teammate with 17 points.

Giorgi Shermadini and Rati Andronikashvili saved their team, scoring 15 points each.

With this victory, Georgia secured their first win in the tournament.

Alperen Sengun was the highest scorer for Türkiye with 21 points and nine rebounds. Sertac Sanli finished the game with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, Montenegro beat Bulgaria 91-81 to jump to the top of Group A, while Belgium defeated Spain 83-73 to be in the second spot.

Türkiye, who tasted their first loss, are competing in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Their next games in the first stage of the tournament will be against Belgium and Spain.

The top four teams from each group will move to the final stage in Berlin.

- Group A