OKINAWA (Japan) - Georgia kept their dream run alive as the debutants booked a trip to the Second Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 by dashing the hopes of Venezuela, 70-59, Wednesday evening at the Okinawa Arena.

Turning point: The Georgians limited the South American side to a only four points while scoring 18 themselves - including 13 consecutive in a rally led by Goga Bitadze - to establish a 40-21 advantage with under three minutes remaining to pull away for good.

They led by as much as 23 at one point. Venezuela, though, tried to mount a comeback behind their threes - their bread-and-butter in this tournament - but time was not on their side.

TCL Player of the Game: Toko Shengelia led Georgia with a game-high 25 points on 53-percent shooting, together with 3 rebounds and 3 assists for a 19 EFF rating.

Georgia's star has been spectacular throughout the his World Cup debut and has been one of the main reasons why they have been able to make it as far as they have at this point. After Wednesday's game, he's now averaging 16.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists.

Stats don't lie: The Georgians are now the second debutant of this World Cup to reach the Second Round after Latvia, who finished second in Group H with a 2-1 record.

Bottomline: Like Latvia, Georgia also finished with a similar record by relegating the Venezuelans (0-3) to the classification rounds. They now wait for the result of the Slovenia-Cape Verde game set later tonight to see if they can end up in first place in the group. 

Venezuela are also now out of contention for a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

They said: "Congratulations to my players. They did an amazing job all these days here, trying to do their best. It's our first appearance but I believe we have shown to everybody that we deserve to be here, and we're a team that, every time, competes. Never quitting. This is the Georgian soul. This is the heart of the Georgians. Today, the country is happy." - Ilias Zouros, Head Coach, Georgia

"At this point, we're extremely happy. We're not satisfied because there are still games left, but today we're gonna enjoy. We made history. This was a historical game for us. Our names are gonna be in the books, and for this we are very, very happy and extremely proud and like Coach said before the game, this win is going to be for Georgia as a whole country and for the people. I hope we made them proud. We're gonna go and try to continue to do so. Just extremely proud and happy to be the captain of this team. And to keep writing history, this is amazing. It's a story to tell for the [future] generations." - Toko Shengelia, Georgia

"We expected Georgia to make mistakes in the first half but they didn't. We changed in the second half and we left an image that is what we are especially on the defensive end. We still have two games ahead against Japan and Finland, and hopefully we can understand that this is the way we should play." - Fernando Duro, Head Coach, Venezuela

Press conference:

The game report will be updated shortly. Check back soon for Game Highlights and Highlights from the TCL Player of the Game!

FIBA