Basketball News, Scores, Stats, Analysis, Standings

POSTED BY: Eurobasket News

Ivan Lilov

There are only two more rounds left in the Regular Season in NBL. Here is the last round review presented by Job Market.

The game between third ranked CSKA (19-9) and ninth ranked Yambol (8-20) was the most important one in the last round on Wednesday night. CSKA was defeated by Yambol in a tough game in Sofia 71-75. It ended at the same time the ten-game winning streak of CSKA. The former international Ivan Lilov (194-1988) orchestrated the victory by scoring 18 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. American forward Trey Sampson (206-2000, college: UAPB) contributed with 24 points and 8 rebounds for the winners. Bahamas center Zane Knowles (208-1992, college: TAMUCC, agency: BIG) answered with 15 points and 6 rebounds for CSKA. Yambol maintains ninth place with 8-20 record. Newly promoted CSKA keeps the third position with nine games lost. Yambol are looking forward to face higher ranked Levski (#6) in Sofia in the next round and it will be quite challenging to get another victory. CSKA will play on the road against Cherno More in Varna and is hoping to win this game.
NBL top team – Rilski (25-4) added another victory to their record. This time they beat fifth ranked Spartak Pleven (16-13) in Samokov 88-84. It ended at the same time the four-game winning streak of Spartak Pleven. Aleksandar Yanev stepped up and scored 22 points (was perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line) for the winners and Yordan Minchev chipped in 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Rilski’s coach Ludmil Hadjisotirov allowed to play the deep bench players in such tough game. The former international power forward Tsvetomir Chernokojev (205-2000, agency: BIG) responded with a double-double by scoring 15 points and 12 rebounds. Rilski maintains first place with 25-4 record. Spartak Pleven at the other side keeps the fifth position with 13 games lost. Rilski will play against bottom-ranked Shumen (#11) on the road in the next round and are hoping to win another game. Spartak Pleven will have a break next round.
The game between fourth ranked Chernomorets (17-11) and 10th ranked Cherno More (6-22) in Burgas on Wednesday ended with biggest points difference. Chernomorets outscored guests from Varna 114-71. Nikolay Georgiev nailed 22 points and 6 rebounds for the winning side. Chernomorets’ coach felt very confident that he used entire bench which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games. Kostadin Lazarov came up with 20 points for Cherno More in the defeat. Chernomorets maintains fourth place with 17-11 record. Cherno More lost seventh consecutive game. They keep the tenth position with 22 games lost. They share it with Shumen. Chernomorets will meet at home Beroe (#7) in the next round. Cherno More will play against CSKA and hope to secure a win.

In the last two games of round 29 Akademik P. was beaten by Levski on the road 96-88. Bottom-ranked Shumen lost to defending champion Balkan on its own court 89-105.

Levski – Akademik P. 96-88

No shocking result in a game when sixth ranked Levski (14-14) beat 8th ranked Akademik P. (10-18) in Sofia 96-88 on Wednesday. Levski made 16-of-20 free shots (80.0 percent) during the game. They looked well-organized offensively handing out 29 assists. American guard Alan Arnett (196-1994, college: GSW, agency: BIG) nailed 30 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists for the winning side and American-Haitian center John Florveus (211-1990, college: Georgia, agency: BIG) accounted for 22 points and 5 rebounds. American guard Jaylen Minnett (185-1999, college: Missouri St.) came up with 22 points and Tomislav Minkov (196-2001) added 17 points respectively for Akademik P. in the defeat. Four Akademik P. players scored in double figures. Akademik P.’s coach Jordan Yankov rotated ten players in this game, but that didn’t help. Levski maintains sixth place with 14-14 record. Loser Akademik P. keeps the eighth position with 18 games lost. Levski will meet at home Yambol (#9) in the next round. Akademik P. will play against the league’s second-placed Balkan and hope to secure a win.
Top scorers:
Levski: A.Arnett 30+5reb+6ast, J.Florveus 22+5reb, Z.Georgiev 18+5reb+2ast, S.Pavlov 8+4reb, A.Velikov 7+3reb+8ast, N.Mihaylov 6+5reb+3ast
Akademik P.: J.Minnett 22, T.Minkov 17+3reb, M.Krastomir 10+5reb+3ast, T.Gugino 10+7reb+2ast, E.Hadjirusev 9+1reb+7ast, T.Creammer 8+4reb

gschID: 1063512

Shumen – Balkan 89-105

Very expected game when 11th ranked Shumen (6-22) lost at home to second ranked Balkan (21-7) 105-89 on Wednesday. Balkan made 22-of-29 free shots (75.9 percent) during the game. The former international Nikolay Grozev (200-1994) nailed a double-double by scoring 17 points and 10 rebounds for the winning side and Chilean-Spanish center Manny Suarez (208-1993, college: Creighton) accounted for 13 points and 8 rebounds. Five Balkan players scored in double figures. American guard Ishmael El-Amin (190, college: URI) came up with 35 points (!!!), 6 rebounds and 7 assists and the other American import forward Rey Idowu (206, college: Tulsa) added 20 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists respectively for Shumen in the defeat. Both coaches used bench players which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games. Balkan have a solid series of four victories in a row. Defending champion maintains second place with 21-7 record having five points less than leader Rilski. Loser Shumen stay dead last with 22 lost games. They share the position with Cherno More. Balkan will meet Akademik P. (#8) in the next round which should be theoretically an easy game. Shumen will play against the league’s leader Rilski and hope to secure a win.
Top scorers:
Balkan: N.Grozev 17+10reb+1ast, D.Dimitrov 16+5reb+1ast, P.Jackson 16+2reb+2ast, N.Diplaros 14+3reb+4ast, M.Suarez 13+8reb+2ast, P.Ivanov 12+3reb+5ast
Shumen: I.El-Amin 35+6reb+7ast, R.Idowu 20+11reb+4ast, G.Markus 14+14reb, N.Nikolov 7, G.Kenderov 6+4reb+2ast, T.Dimitrov 6

gschID: 1063513

Chernomorets – Cherno More 114-71

The game between fourth ranked Chernomorets (17-11) and 10th ranked Cherno More (6-22) in Burgas on Wednesday ended with biggest points difference. Chernomorets outscored guests from Varna 114-71. Chernomorets looked well-organized offensively handing out 32 assists. Power forward Nikolay Georgiev (204-1995) nailed 22 points and 6 rebounds for the winning side and Canadian point guard Munis Tutu (184-1996, college: Carleton) accounted for 12 points, 14 assists and 4 steals. Five Chernomorets players scored in double figures. Chernomorets’ coach felt very confident that he used entire bench which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games. Guard Kostadin Lazarov (193-2000, agency: BIG) came up with 20 points and Ukrainian center Bogdan Brinyuk (205-2003, agency: BIG) added 12 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists respectively for Cherno More in the defeat. Chernomorets maintains fourth place with 17-11 record. Cherno More lost seventh consecutive game. They keep the tenth position with 22 games lost. They share it with Shumen. Chernomorets will meet at home Beroe (#7) in the next round. Cherno More will play against CSKA and hope to secure a win.
Top scorers:
Chernomorets: N.Georgiev 22+6reb, G.Boyanov 20+3reb+1ast, M.Berk 13+1reb+2ast, J.Tucker 13+3reb+2ast, M.Tutu 12+1reb+14ast, S.Lepichev 11+5reb+1ast
Cherno More: K.Lazarov 20+3reb+2ast, J.Martin 14+7reb+1ast, B.Bogdan 12+6reb+5ast, T.Kurtev 9+4reb+3ast, M.Moldov 8+2reb+7ast, S.Ivan 8+11reb+2ast

gschID: 1063514

CSKA – Yambol 71-75

gschID: 1063515

Rilski – Spartak Pleven 88-84

NBL top team – Rilski (25-4) added another victory to their record. This time they beat fifth ranked Spartak Pleven (16-13) in Samokov 88-84. It ended at the same time the four-game winning streak of Spartak Pleven. Rilski made 19-of-25 charity shots (76.0 percent) during the game. Aleksandar Yanev stepped up and scored 22 points (was perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line) for the winners and the former international forward Yordan Minchev (202-1998) chipped in 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Four Rilski players scored in double figures. Rilski’s coach Ludmil Hadjisotirov allowed to play the deep bench players in such tough game. The former international power forward Tsvetomir Chernokojev (205-2000, agency: BIG) responded with a double-double by scoring 15 points and 12 rebounds and the former international Martin Marinov (191-1985) scored 21 points (perfect from the field making all seven shots !!!). Rilski maintains first place with 25-4 record. Spartak Pleven at the other side keeps the fifth position with 13 games lost. Rilski will play against bottom-ranked Shumen (#11) on the road in the next round and are hoping to win another game. Spartak Pleven will have a break next round.
Top scorers:
Rilski: Y.Aleksandar 22+2reb+1ast, M.Vasov 14+1reb+1ast, D.Wiggins 12+5reb, C.Kostov 11+1reb+4ast, Y.Minchev 9+5reb+4ast, B.Randolph 7+3reb+3ast
Spartak Pleven: M.Marinov 21+2ast, T.Chernokojev 15+12reb+3ast, S.Haynes-Jones 10+1ast, S.Marinov 10+1reb+5ast, N.Stoyanov 9+2reb+2ast, S.Iliev 6+5reb+1ast