Montenegro denies Georgia a place in the playoffs / News - Basketnews.com

Bojan Dubljevic fouled out with 5 minutes left in the game but it did not matter as Georgia was forced to miss the playoffs after a loss against Montenegro.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Igor Drobnjak made a couple of clutch shots down the stretch, and Montenegro (3-2) beat Georgia (1-4) 81-73 (21-19, 20-16, 17-17, 23-21) to deny the hosts a place in the playoffs.

Georgia / Schedule

Belgium Georgia79-76 Georgia Spain64-90 Turkey Georgia83-88 Georgia Bulgaria80-92 Georgia Montenegro73-81

With the teams separated by three with three minutes to go (65-62), Montenegro went on a quick little 5-0 run and forced head coach Ilias Zouros to call a timeout.

Even though Duda Sanadze made two free throws after the time stoppage, Igor Drobnjak answered with a layup from an inbounds play.

Marko Simonovic fouled out with 90 seconds left to play. It meant that the Montenegrin national team had to finish the game without two of their main frontcourt players as Bojan Dubljevic had fouled several minutes ago as well.

However, it was not enough to put Georgia on top. Drobnjak made a tough contested floater, forcing Goga Bitadze's foul at the same time (77-68), which ultimately closed the game.

After the win, Montenegro will face Germany in the Round of 16, while Georgia will have to miss the playoffs in a tournament where they were one of the hosts. As a result, Belgium becomes the fourth-place team in Group A

Game hero Igor Drobnjak led Montenegro with 22 points on a 9-for-13 shooting. Kendrick Perry added 17 points and 9 assists.

On the losing side, Thaddus McFadden was the top scorer with 16 points but made just 3 three-pointers out of 10.

Georgia: Thaddus McFadden 16 (3/10 3PT, 5/7 FT), Sandro Mamukelashvili 15 (3/8 2PT, 1/4 3PT, 6/6 FT, 10 REB), Duda Sanadze 14 (1/5 2PT, 3/6 3PT), Giorgi Shermadini 14 (5/11 2PT, 9 REB).

Montenegro: Igor Drobnjak 22 (6/8 2PT, 3/5 3PT), Kendrick Perry 17 (3/8 3PT, 9 AST), Bojan Dubljevic 10.

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