Saliou Niang and Italy secured their first win in EuroBasket 2025 on Saturday, thanks to a dominant second-half performance against Georgia in Limassol, Cyprus.
Niang produced a team-high 15 points, Simone Fontecchio scored 14 points and Momo Diouf added 13 points in the 78-62 victory at the Spyros Kyprianou Arena. Niang went 4-of-6 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line in 17 minutes of action.
The two teams were tied at 32 points apiece at the intermission before Italy pulled away in the second half, outscoring Georgia 46-30 over the last 20 minutes. Niang scored 10 points alone in the fourth quarter to help the Italians seal the win and improve to 1-1 in Group C.
Goga Bitadze led Georgia with a game-high 22 points and four rebounds, Sandro Mamukelashvili had 13 points and five rebounds and Kamar Baldwin chipped in nine points. The group dropped to 1-1 after defeating Spain in its opener on Thursday.
The preliminary round of the 42nd edition of EuroBasket is running across Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Poland, with teams competing in four groups of six. The top four teams after five games will advance to the knockout round, which begins on Sept. 6.
Niang was the 58th pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers after averaging 7.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists on 51.3% shooting from the field last season with Dolomiti Energia Trento. He helped the team to the Italian Cup and was the Italian Lega A Most Improved Player.
The Senegalese-Italian forward logged three appearances with the Cavaliers in summer league, averaging 7.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He is expected to play next season with Virtus Bologna after signing with the team on July 16.
After knocking off Georgia, Italy plays next on Sunday against Bosnia and Herzegovina (2:30 p.m. EDT), which won its opener and faces Spain on Saturday. Georgia will see Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece (2-0) on Sunday (8 a.m.).