Levski’s team recorded its fourth win since the start of the new season in the Men’s National Basketball League. The Blues beat Akademik (Plovdiv) 78:76 (17:16, 15:16, 24:26, 22:18) as a guest in the last match of the 5th round of the championship. With the success, Levski overtook Spartak (Pleven) and tied with Balkan (Botevgrad) and CSKA in the second place in the ranking, with all three teams having a balance of 4 wins and 1 loss. Akademik, on the other hand, registered a fourth defeat in 5 matches during the campaign and remains in tenth place in the standings with 6 points, the same as the Miner 2015 team (Pernik).
Akademik and Levski played an extremely equal match in the “Strength” hall, staying close in the score throughout the match and keeping the intrigue going until the final whistle. Coach Yordan Yankov’s players took a total of 40 free throws, but made just 3 of 21 three-point attempts, while the Blues made 8 3-pointers and totaled 16 assists on just 8 fouls, which proved key to the final outcome of the collision.
The match started with a low score and many mistakes by both teams. Thus, shortly after the middle of the first part, there were only 9 realized points – 6:3 in favor of Akademik. Gradually, however, both teams increased their efficiency in attack and after the end of the first 10 minutes, the guests from Sofia had a point lead at 17:16.
The second quarter was evenly matched again. Yordan Yankov’s players managed to take a 32-26 lead with 3:02 minutes left in the first half, but the Blues quickly caught up and the break was tied at 32-32.
After the break, the Plovdiv “students” started more concentrated in attack and again took a lead of 6 points, but after two consecutive successful three-point attempts by Alan Arnett Levski, they again reached the level at 45:45 in the middle of the third quarter. Until the end of the part, the two teams continued to stay close in the score and before the final 10 minutes Akademik had a 2 point lead – 58:56.
At the beginning of the last part, the capital team showed a more organized game in attack and led with 70:65 5:20 minutes before the end. The “Blues” kept their lead until 77:71 in the last minute of the meeting, but then Martin Marinov made a three-pointer for 74:77. Alan Arnett missed the next 2 free throws for Levski, and on the counterattack, Asen Velikov fouled Martin Marinov on another three-point shot and he stood at the penalty line, but made only two of his three attempts and missed a chance to tie the score 10 seconds before the final siren. When the game was resumed, there was a foul against John Florvius, who scored only one try, but then the hosts did not manage to organize an attack, and Levski reached the final success after 78:76.
Alan Arnett scored 20 points, John Florvius had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Asen Velikov contributed 12 points and 7 assists.
For the hosts from Plovdiv, Justin McCall scored 19 points, and Tyler Creamer recorded a “double-double” – 10 points and 16 rebounds.
In the next sixth round, Akademik visits Beroe, while Levski hosts BC Shumen.
Sesame Men’s National Basketball League (NBL) Fifth Round Matchups:
Academic Plovdiv – Levski – 76:78 (16:17, 16:15, 26:24, 18:22)
Miner 2015 – Shumen – 86:92 (24:29, 19:21, 22:26, 21:16)
from sunday:
Rila athlete – Beroe – 86:82 (22:24, 23:13, 20:30, 21:15)
from Saturday:
CSKA – Black Sea Ticha – 99:64 (20:17, 24:16, 37:13, 18:18)
Balkan – Spartak Pleven – 89:85 (24:21, 20:16, 19:23, 26:25)
Chernomorets – Yambol – 86:62 (32:12, 24:9, 13:24, 17:17)
temporary ranking:
1. Chernomorets 5 5 0 425:342 10 points
2. CSKA 5 4 1 429:353 9
3. Levski 5 4 1 399:364 9
4. Balkan 5 4 1 408:387 9
5. Spartak Pleven 5 3 2 432:364 8
6. Rila athlete 5 2 3 391:372 7
7. Beroe 5 2 3 422:417 7
8. Shumen 5 2 3 415:421 7
9. Yambol 5 2 3 392:434 7
10. Academic Plovdiv 5 1 4 386:436 6
11. Miner 2015 5 1 4 343:458 6
12. Black Sea Ticha 5 0 5 360:451 5
