Bost and Vezenkov show: Bulgaria keep dream alive against Georgia

TBILISI (Georgia) - Bulgaria made sure that last game day of Group A will be full of suspense as they notched their first FIBA EuroBasket 2022 win in a 92-80 effort against hosts Georgia.

The victors pulled away in the second half behind excellent performances from Dee Bost (33 points and 12 assists) and Aleksandar Vezenkov (28 points and 14 rebounds).

 
Turning point: Drama lasted all 40 minutes, yet a third quarter run gave Bulgaria the upper hand. Dee Bost and Pavlin Ivanov each knocked down three long-balls to make the score 60-49.

TCL Player of the Game: Dee Bost was good for 33 points, 12 assists and 4 rebounds, yet it practically is a coin toss between him and teammate Aleksandar Vezenkov. 

Bost takes the cake as his 9 three-pointers made are the most for a player in a EuroBasket game since 1995 when Yugoslavia's Aleksandar Djordjevic converted nine in the Final against Lithuania.

Stats don't lie: Bulgaria came out three-pointers a-blazing. The self-proclaimed underdog of Group A shared the ball and made 19 of its 38 three-ball attempts.

That's the most made by a team in a EuroBasket game over the last 25 years.

Bottom line: We won't know anything for sure until Group A finish their games. Bulgaria must beat Belgium, yet a win by Georgia against Montenegro might mean that four teams end up with 2-3 records and calculators in their hands.

It was already determined previously that Spain and Turkey advance behind the three victories both teams have accumulated.

They said: 

"We are satisfied with this win. We kept the chances to execute my dream to go to Berlin. Thank you to the players, to Dee Bost and Vezenkov as the leaders of the team, and also to my colleagues." - Bulgaria coach Rosen Barchovski

"Basically I couldn't buy a shot before. That's the type of player I am. I can have 1 point like I did the other night and then I can score the next night. I had a lot of motivation. People were messaging me and talking crazy. It motivated me." - Dee Bost, Bulgaria

"We didn't come to the court today. Only the shorts came. It was obvious from the warmup that we weren't ready to play basketball. We stayed in celebration for the game against Turkey. We don't realize that to qualify you have to win every game. So we were not ready to play basketball. We were not bad. We were terrible." - Georgia coach Ilias Zouros

"Coaches told us what is going to be the game plan, and two players beat us. We didn't follow the game plan. Came out with no energy and no heart. Any time you let two players beat you, especially in European basketball, it comes down to heart." - Thaddus McFadden, Georgia

 
FIBA