Israel came back strong in second contest

Meir Tapiro led the visitors (photo:gong.bg)

21-07-2007 23:37

Israel came back strong in the second friendly game versus Bulgaria and won 89 – 82. In very tense game in which referees blew the whistle for 63 fouls total visitors had a control during the most of the game and took a little revenge for yesterday’s loss.
Israel led from the middle of the second quarter when they went on 8-0 run to grab 36-28 lead for good in the game. Bulgarians never gave up and tried to come back. However thanks to the very hot shooting night (11 three pointers from 23 attempts) Israel kept the distance.

Both teams played very hard as they are trying to reach optimal form for the additional qualifications for Eurobasket 2007 in Spain.
Meir Tapiro was in the middle of success for Israel as he managed 13 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds. Yotam Halperin managed 19 points, as 14 of them came in the second half.

For Bulgaria Jordan Bozov ended with game high 23 points while Asen Velikov added 13 points and 4 assists.

Bulgarian coach Konstantin Papazov gave a rest to his best player Todor Stoykov. Other players that didn’t take a part in this friendly contest were Nikolay Traykov, Aleksandar Gruev, Tencho Banev and Dimitar Anguelov.
Tomorrow Israel play with Macedonia their last game while in Sofia. Macedonians arrived earlier today to take part of upcoming International Tournament “Vivatel Cup” this coming Monday in Universiada Hall. Other teams to play in this tournament are Georgia, Denmark and host team Bulgaria.