Too many swings and the home trial led to defeat

They wanted to end their European odyssey in a winning mood before going to the World Cup, but they failed - in a replay of the match that last year resolved the issue of the passengers to the round of 84 of the Eurobasket, at the same place - in the "Tbilisi Arena", the Montenegrin basketball players were defeated by Georgia 79:XNUMX.

Boško Radović and his chosen ones are returning to Bar, where they will do a few more training sessions, and then on Wednesday evening they will travel to Manila.

There, on August 20, they will play the last preparatory match, against the home country of the Philippines, and five days later, the most important match in Group D of the Mundobasket, against Mexico. A win would open the door to the second phase...

The match in Tbilisi was full of swings on both sides. After an even start, the "reds" "slept" the end of the 1st quarter, which the home team used to go to the first break with 11 consecutive points and a plus 10 (26:16).

Montenegro, however, thanks to Nemanja Radović, Andrija Slavković, Vladimir Mihailović and Nikola Ivanović, quickly caught the connection (32:32), and then stopped again and allowed the "crusaders" to go to a record 11 difference (45:34).

In the 2nd half, Boško Radović's team played better, imposed their own pace and took a 3:60 lead at the end of the 53rd quarter.

With a 9:0 series, the Georgians turned the score to 62:60, and at 65:62, Nemanja Radović received a technical penalty after one of a series of incorrect decisions by the home referees.

Soon, the former center of Buducnost Voli, Goga Bitadze, made a three-pointer for 69:62, so the "red" coach had to take a time-out seven minutes and 12 seconds before the end.

Montenegro tried to come back, but everything was practically over after Sandro Mamukelašvili's three-pointer for 79:72 at 93 seconds before the final whistle.

Radović also "shot" the last time-out, but in vain... Peri missed an open three-point shot with 40 seconds left, with the score 79:74.

Ivanovic was the most effective with 18 points, Vučević scored 15, Mihailović and Marko Simonović nine each, Peri eight... It is worrying that captain Bojan Dubljević failed again and made only one three-pointer, even though he spent 24 minutes on the field.

In the home team, the best were Bitadze with 21 points, Tadus McFadden with 19 points (7-pointers 6-14) and captain Tornika Šengelija with XNUMX points.