17-year-old Samu Adler made his debut in the Finnish team.
The Georgian men’s national basketball team defeated Finland for the second time this week in the European Championship qualifying match. On Sunday, the teams met Georgia in Tbilisi, where the home team was stronger with a score of 81–64.
The start of the match was delayed by about 50 minutes because the clock in the arena was not working. The organizers finally got the problem fixed, and the game could start. However, the teams had to play half of the match without functioning clocks on top of the baskets showing the game and attack time.
When the game finally got up to speed after a long wait, Edon Maxhuni opened Finland’s scoring account with his three-point shot, and Susijengi played in the leading position for almost the entire opening half. At its largest, the lead was nine points.
In the last minute of the second quarter, Georgia briefly wedged itself ahead by one point, but Elias Valtonen Thanks to the triple, Finland went into halftime with a narrow two-point lead (40–38).
After the break, it was more difficult for Susijeng. In the third ten-minute period, Georgia was better with a score of 17–13, and the final quarter also progressed under the command of the home team. Georgia increased its lead right at the beginning of the set and was able to keep Finland behind with its rush.
– We started the trip quite well, but they increased their defensive intensity. They played really aggressively and made it difficult for us to attack, analyze 10 points scored by Susijeng Andre Gustavson In an interview with Ruutu.
Susijengi scored the most points in Tbilisi’s evening Olivier Nkamhoua (11 points). In addition to Gustavson, Finland scored 10 points Mikael Jantunen and Elias Valtonen.
Georgia’s point groups were Tornike Shengelia with its 25 points and Kamar Baldwin with 22 points.
The 17-year-old also learned about the requirements of national team games Samu Adlerwho debuted in Susijeng as the youngest player in this millennium. Adler was replaced on the floor for the first time around the middle of the opening quarter. In addition, he played at the end of the last quarter.
In total, he got five minutes and 27 seconds of playing time.
His stats included three rebounds, one assist, two-pointers and three-pointers. In the plus/minus statistic, his reading remained -5.
Captain Sasu Salin was not in the lineup on Sunday.
Susijeng’s place in the competition is already certain despite the qualifying games, because Finland is one of the four host countries of next year’s EC tournament.
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