Shumen’s team achieved its fourth consecutive success in the Second Six of the National Basketball League and enters the playoffs with high confidence. Yanko Yankov’s team celebrated their success with 84:71 (23:18, 23:14, 20:17, 18:22) over Yambol in a match of the last 32nd round of the championship, held in the “Arena Shumen” hall.
The victory was unimportant for the people of Shumen, who had already secured the seventh place in the final standings. With the loss, Yambol loses chances to qualify for the playoffs, and Levski, who takes the last quota for the eliminations, will finish in eighth position.
The eight in the NBL is clear (results and standings from the 32nd round)
Shumen ends the regular season with a record of 15 wins and 17 losses, while Yambol finishes with 12 wins and 20 losses.
FIRST QUARTER:Shumen’s team made a strong start to the match and in just a minute and a half managed to record a run of six consecutive points to take a 6:0 lead. Almost 180 seconds were needed for the guests to score their first shot from the game after Pavel Marinov made a three-pointer for 6:4. Blank rounds from both teams followed from a long distance, after which Alexander Matushev restored the tie at 6:6 with a nice floater. On the other side, Emilian Grudov was above everyone with seven of Shumen’s first nine points, but anyway Yambolii reversed the result at 9:11 after a basket and a foul by Ivan Lilov. Yanko Yankov’s alumni responded with a 9-2 run to pull ahead at 18:13 in the final two minutes of the first quarter. Yambol again restored parity at 18:18 after five consecutive points by Ivan Lilov, but still Shumen took the lead after the first ten minutes through baskets by Nikola Nikolov for 23:18.
Yanko Yankov: Our participation in the playoffs is very special for me
SECOND QUARTER:Karim Mane’s three-pointer at 30:22 gave Shumen’s team its biggest lead of the game about two minutes into the second quarter. Immediately after that, the hosts created a counterattack, which was completed by Stanislav Bankov with an assist from Barash Mustafa for the first double-digit distance at 32:22. Tony Dechev’s boys got into a serious hole and never managed to shorten their lag, and subsequently Shumen’s lead continued to grow – 34:22. The Yambolii had almost no success shooting from the three, going 2/13 midway through the second half. Shoumen scored six more unanswered points and the home team’s lead jumped to 18 at 40:22. Tony Dechev’s timeout did a good job, as Pavel Marinov and Alexander Matushev combined for seven straight points to cut the gap to 40:29. Still, Shumen didn’t hesitate and took a 14-point halftime lead at 46:32.
Alexander Matushev: I hope there will be a team in Yambol next year
THIRD QUARTER:The difference remained unchanged after the first two and a half minutes in the third quarter, with Shumen leading at 50:36. Mane, Kohaida and Rollins were at the heart of everything most interesting for Shumenets offensively, and thanks to their performances the home team still had a solid lead at 56:37. Iambolii tried to somehow hang on to their opponent, and after another exchange of series, the score became 61:47 in favor of the home team with about two minutes remaining in the third quarter. David Rollins scored a basket at the buzzer to put Shumen ahead by 17 points at 66:49.
Nikola Nikolov: Until 3-4 years ago, we only dreamed of these moments
LAST THURSDAY:Tony Dechev had apparently already given up chasing the victory, as veterans Ivan Lilov and Pavel Marinov were already on the bench for a long time. In their absence, however, the team’s juniors Nikola Nankov, Georgi Dimitrov and Georgi Ivanov managed to bring a dose of spark to the ranks of the guests and make the score 70:57 at the beginning of the final period. However, the expected happened and Shumen maintained its double-digit lead, and four minutes before the end of the final period, the distance was 14 points at 77:63. Matushev’s leadership helped the Yambolians close the gap to ten, but his strength also ran out and he also asked for a substitution, eventually Yambol finished the match with an all-youthful lineup on the floor. The match ended 84:71 in favor of Shumen.
Justin Kohaida led Shumen with 16 points and 26 rebounds as he finished the game on 2-of-12 shooting from the free throw line after missing his first 10 attempts. David Rollins and Emilian Grudov scored 15 points each, Nikola Nikolov added 13, and Karim Mane had 12 points and 7 assists. Alexander Matushev led Yambol with 22 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Ivan Lilov and Pavel Marinov each scored 13 points, and Ioan Hristov added 10 points and 6 rebounds. TITLE FIVE:SHUMAN: Karim Mane, Nikola Nikolov, David Rollins, Emilian Grudov, Justin KohaidaYAMBOL: Ioan Hristov, Ivan Lilov, Alexander Matushev, Pavel Marinov, Andon Vachev
