Bulgaria won in Portugal

Win at the start (photo: record)

03-08-2010 00:56

Bulgaria stormed back to take a tough 67-59 victory over Portugal in the opening game of their EuroBasket qualifying campaign in Group C.

Bulgaria had squandered a double-digit lead to trail 59-55 with 6:37 to go in the game, but they finished on a 12-0 run to snatch the win from the hosts.

Filip Videnov sparked the decisive run with a three-pointer and scored seven of his team-high 17 points in the decisive run, with Asen Velikov also hitting a three-pointer and Ivan Lilov also sinking a pair of free throws.

Earlier, another Videnov three-pointer had given Bulgaria a 10-point advantage, 47-37, but with the score at 50-40, Joao Santos hit a trey for Portugal, starting a 9-0 run that put the hosts right back in it.

Chavdar Kostov added 12 points for Bulgaria.

Heshimu Evans led Portugal with 19 points, while Santos collected 10.

FULL STATS FROM PORTUGAL - BULGARIA GAME