Basketball club Olimpi won the first match in the current Super League. The team trained by Dimitri Jakobov managed to do it on the 4th attempt. The Olympians, who lost in the first rounds, defeated a very solid opponent – TSU. They managed to do so in such a way that the team lacked 5 players at once. Kakha Jintcharadze, Otar Pkhakadze, Luka Kalatozishvili, Davit Abuladze and Levan Gogichaishvili could not take part in the match due to injuries.
Due to this loss, the playing style of Olimpi was largely individual. American guard Kendrick Thompson took all the weight on himself and at the expense of his glorious performing skills Olimpi gained a victory. Thompson finished the match with 38 points. He scored 9 three-pointers from 15 attempts. The last of these broke TSU at once, as it was scored 1 minute before the end of the match and advnaced Olimpi by 7 points.
Along with Thompson, other legionnaires in the ranks of Olimpi – Devante Foster and Bundu Abdulai were also active. Youngsters of the team – Levan Qvartskhava and Davit Tsivtsivadze played a quite well making numerous important assists and steals.
As for the course of the match, TSU was mainly leading, but Olimpi was always on the track and sometimes equalized the score. The starting minutes of the last period turned out to be crucial, when Olimpi managed advance 70:67 after winning the 3-minute period 10:4. Here Olimpi’s legionnaires took the game on themselves and broke the opponent with fast attacks – 80:73 (Statistics).
TSU’s coach Leqso Lapanashvili was fouled out of the match at the last minute. however, the fate of the match had been already decided, as Olimpi was winning 7 points and became unapproachable. Thompson led the winners with 38 points. Devante Foster had 15 points. Bundu Abdulai collected 9 points and 9 rebounds. Brandon Sly was the most effective in TSU with 28 points. Saba Lobjanidze scored 13 points and 9 rebounds.
