Dutch shock unbeaten Georgia in EuroBasket

Netherlands – Georgia 91-88
The Netherlands had lost their first three contests in the EuroBasket 2013 qualifiers, so when unbeaten Georgia showed up in Almere for their fourth game, it’s safe to say that many felt each team would extend their current streak to four. Fortunately, the hosts had other thoughts and fought back from a 15-point deficit to hand Georgia it’s first loss.

The Dutch got out to an 11-8 lead early in the first quarter, but the visitors went on an 11-4 run to close out the first quarter up 19-15.
Two minutes into the second quarter the score was knotted at 24, then Georgia ran off six unanswered points. A Kees Akerboom jumper set the score at 32-28, Georgia, with 5:04 to play in the half and then the Georgian ran off nine straight to build a 13-point lead with 2:41 on the clock. David Jansen hit three-pointer and was followed up by another jumper by Akerboom, to cut the margin to eight. The squads traded baskets for the last two minutes to close out the half with Georgia up by the same eight points, 47-39.
Jansen opened the scoring in the second half with a three-ball for the Netherlands, but that was followed immediately by George Tsintsadze with a three of his own to make it 50-42. Jacob Pullen dropped in two free throws to put the score to 52-42, but Jansen came right back with another triple, 52-45. Robin Smeulders hit a jumper and Arvin Slagter dropped one in from behind the arc to cut the lead to two, 52-50. Akerboom’s three-pointer a couple of minutes of play later gave the hosts the lead at 55-53 with 5:18 in the third quarter. Pullen made that advantage short lived though as he hit a three-ball of his own 19 seconds later, putting the score at 56-55. Smeulders nailed two free throws with 3:17 in the quarter to tie the score up at 59, then Georgia ran off five straight. Jansen hit a jumper and a three-pointer to close out the Dutch scoring and Pullen scored another jumper and split a pair of free throws for the visitors, giving Georgia a three-point margin with one quarter to play, 67-64.

Jansen hit a two pointer and back-to-back threes to tie the score at 72 with 7:44 to play. Worthy De Jong took that ball to the hole on Tsintsadze, got the basket and a foul and converted the three-point play to put the Netherlands up by three, 75-72. With 4:31 to play, Francisco Elson knocked down a deuce to give the Dutch their biggest lead of the night, 83-76. Zaza Pachulia converted on two jumpers and Tornike Shengelia hit a jumper of his own and sunk two free throws to get Georgia back to being down by only one with 2:10 to play 85-84. De Jong countered with a lay-up, then got a missed shot by Pullen with shot at putting the game out of reach, but turned it over to Manuchar Markoishvili, who drove the lane for two and an 87-86 game with 45 clicks left. After the play Markoishvili was called for a technical, Akerboom stepped up and canned the two charity tosses, the Dutch ran the clock down to 19 when Jansen tossed up a three. He was fouled on the scramble for the rebound by Shengelia and dropped in the two free throws to extend the margin to five, 91-86 with 15 seconds to play. Shengelia hit a jumper at the buzzer to close out scoring at 91-88, giving the Netherlands their first win in the tournament.
Jansen paced the Dutch with 24 points, Akerboom followed closely behind with 22, Henk Norel contributed 12, and Smeudlers dropped in 10.
Pachulia led the Georgians with 23 points and nine rebounds, Shengelia came up with 20 points, Pullen scored 16, and Markoishvili added 15.