Rila athlete defeated Balkan 89:62 (23:13, 20:18, 26:9, 20:22) in a match of the last round of the regular season in the National Basketball League, played this evening in the Arena Samokov hall. The team from Samokov is in second position in the ranking and in the playoffs will meet the team from Shumen, which finished in first place in the Second Six. The Botevgrad team is in fourth place in the table and will face CSKA in the 1/4-final matches. The matches start on April 29, the second match is on May 1, and a possible third will be played on May 3.
FIRST PARTAfter a little more than 2 minutes of play in the “Arena Samokov” hall, the hosts trailed by 2 points (4-6). Shortly after, the visitors increased their lead to 6 points (10-4). Vasil Hristov’s basketball players continued to accumulate a solid lead, making it 8 points (12-4), with a little more than 5 minutes left in the half. Riletso managed to get back into the game, and after Chavdar Kostov’s three-pointer, his team’s deficit became only 3 points (9-12). Immediately after that, a second three-pointer by the captain of the home team equalized the score (12:12). Lubomir Kirov’s players managed to find a way to turn their opponent around and took a 20:13 lead with a little more than a minute to go. In the end, after 10 minutes of play, Samokovci already led by 10 points over their opponent (23-13).
SECOND PARTAlready in the first minutes of the second half, Rilski increased the difference to 14 points (29-15). Balkan managed to reduce its deficit to 10 points with just over 6 minutes left before the break. Soon after, the hosts regained their 14-point advantage. The guests tried to close the gap, managing to do so to 11 points (28-39) with 3 minutes left in the half. However, the home team maintained a 13-14 point lead in the final minutes before going into the break with a 12 point lead.
End of the regular season in the NBL – results, reports and standings from the 32nd round
THIRD PARTAlready in the first minute, Riletso increased the difference to 13 points. Balkan was never able to find its rhythm and get closer to its rival, as the team from Botevgrad’s deficit became 20 points with a little more than 7 minutes left in the half. A basket by Alex Simeonov increased the difference to 22 points. With 5:33 minutes remaining, the home team led 58:32, and Vasil Hristov’s basketball players could not find a way to get back into the game. The difference in favor of Rilletso continued to grow, becoming 30 points. 3:30 minutes into the final quarter, the lead was down to 26 points. The hosts still went into the final 10 minutes with a 29-point lead.
LAST PARTDespite Balkan’s latest onslaught, the hosts managed to keep the gap around 30 points in the first minutes of this part. After 4 minutes of play, the difference rose to 34 points in favor of the hosts, who did not give the current champion a chance to think about returning to the game. The guests did not give up and still managed to reduce their deficit to 28 points with 2 minutes left in the game. In the end, there were no surprises at the end.
Chavdar Kostov and Joseph Lawson scored 13 points each for Rila Sportsman, Alex Simeonov scored 11 points in a row, Michaelin Scott and John Florvius scored 10 points each. For Balkan, Dimitar Dimitrov scored 13 points, Nikolay Grozev and Yordan Minchev added 10 points each.
STARTING LINE-UPS: RIL ATHLETE: Michaelyn Scott, Chris Minkow, Chavdar Kostov, Alex Simeonov, John Florvious BALKANS: Supreme Hanna, Iliyan Pishchikov, Yordan Minchev, Nikolay Grozev, Dimitar Dimitrov
FULL NBL RANKINGS:
