Turkey and Belgium with minimal victories in Bulgaria’s group
After Spain defeated Bulgaria in the first match of Group A of EuroBasket 2022, the teams of Turkey and hosts Georgia also started your participation in the championship with success.
The Turks, led by three NBA players in the person of Jedi Osman (Cleveland), Furkan Korkmaz (Philadelphia) and Alperen Shengyun (Houston), beat Montenegro hard with 72:68.
The Montenegrins led by five points with four minutes to go, but a final onslaught by the Turks, led by Korkmaz, paid off and they triumphed by four points. Shane Larkin excels with 18 points and 7 assists, Jeddi Osman adds 15 points, and Korkmaz remains with 9. The Turks are Bulgaria’s next opponent – on Saturday.
The experienced Bojan Dublevich scored 18 for the losing team.
The hosts Georgia suffered a disappointment in front of full stands in Tbilisi. Belgium defeated the Georgians 79-76 after overtime, providing one of the surprises of the first day of the competition.
Regular time ended at 70:70, and in overtime, Georgia was without Indiana center Goga Bitadze, who was injured. 11 seconds before the end of overtime, Sandro Mamukelashvili equalized to 76:76, but Jonathan Tabu made a three-pointer three seconds before the end, ensuring the victory of the Belgians – 79:76.
It was Tabu and Jean-Marc Muema with 14 points each that led their team to victory, and Milwaukee winger Mamukelashvili scored 18 for Georgia.
The rest of the results so far:
Group “B”:
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Hungary 95:85
Slovenia – Lithuania 92:85