Mega beat Zestaponi, Orbi defeated Sportuni convincingly

The second round of the basketball “A” league started with the 6th tour yesterday. Burji defeated a sole leader of the championship – Kavkasia in Telavi, Mega took advantage of it today and equaled the leader by defeating Zestaponi. 

Zestafoni has ambitions to move to the Super League and the match with today’s opponent was a good test to achieve this goal. Zestaponi coached by Sergo Atuashvili was leading for 33 minutes, not with a huge advantage, but still. However, Mega players improved their performance in the crucial moment. Jalen Bradley, who arrived at the gym 3 hours before the game and, as snipers are accustomed to, was practicing shooting, scored 8 points in a row at the decisive moment and advanced his team. Mamuka Bazuashvili was helping him a lot and as a result, Mega advanced 83:74. 4 minutes where left and Guga Pataraia’s team played this minutes convincingly, without complications.  

Eventually, Mega won 87:82 (Statistics) and equalized with Kavkasia in the standings with 5 victories and 1 defeat. Jalen Bradley led the winners with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Aston Francis scored 16 points and 9 rebounds and Mamuka Bazuashvili had 14 points and 7 rebounds. James Fleming was the most effective in Zestaponi, scoring 28 points. Oto Buliava collected 26 points and Donnell Cegers scored 19 points. 

In the last match of the 6th round, the teams in the last places of the standings – Orbi and Sportuni met each other. The first round match of these teams was won by the sports universities in a tense battle, and today Orbi took revenge. Irakli Tomaradze’s team was successful from the very beginning of the match. Orbi won the first period 24:16 and despite the 2-point deficit in the second quarter, they established full control over the game after the big break. Tomaradze’s team won the third period 31:19, advanced by 17 points and in fact, decided the fate of the game.

Eventually, Orbi won 93:80 (Statistics), upgraded in the standings, catching up with Zestaponi. Jordan Walker was a distinctive leader of Orbi, he scored 31 points, 5 steals, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Diago Quinn had 16 points and 16 rebounds. Levan Lolishvili collected 13 points. in Sportuni, Giorgi Tsirikidze and Saba Geguchadze had 18-18 points each. Chris Wray scored 14 points and 9 rebounds.  

The matches of the 7th round of A League will be held on March 28 in Telavi and on March 29 in Tbilisi.