Czech Republic won the "Award of Sofia"

Varbanov dunking (BulgarianBasket.com)

27-07-2010 20:25

Bulgaria finished second in the International Tournament "Award of Sofia" after losing the final to Czech Republic by 4 points, 87-91 after overtime.

The game was even from start to finish as none of the team was able to take a big lead. Bulgaria had the edge after the first quarter, 21-17, but the Czechs finished much better the second and took a 40-34 lead.

Bulgaria quickly tied the game in the third quarter and then both teams continued to play an even game and to be very close to each other. So, after the third quarter Bulgaria had a lead of 57-56. The last 10 minutes were very dramatic as Czech Republic led for most of the time. Chavdar Kostov put Bulgaria ahead 74-73 with 29 seconds to play. Then Pavel Pumprla tied the score at 74 but Earl Calloway scored two free throws for a two points lead for the hosts. However the Czechs made a very good attack in the last 6 seconds and scored to send the game into a overtime.

The extra time started with a 7-0 run for Bulgaria. Unfortunately the team didn't capitalize on that and allowed the opponent to come back in the game tying it at 85 points. Until the end the visitors managed to score more points and won the tournament.

For the hosts very good played Earl Calloway who had 25 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds. Filip Videnov added 15 points and 8 rebounds while Chavdar Kostov finished with 13 points.

Pavel Houska, who was chosen MVP of the tournament, was the top scorer for the winners with 23 points. Pavel Slezak also played well and added 20 points.

FULL STATS FROM BULGARIA - CZECH REPUBLIC GAME

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