A title and a perfect 40-0 season for Lukoil Academic

Team captain Stoykov collects the trophy

19-05-2008 20:07

Lukoil Academic have done it! They've played 40 games in the Bulgarian championship this season and they've lost none. 18 matches in the 1st phase of First A1 Divison, 14 in the second and 8 in the playoffs - 40 in total. And another 4 victories to conquer the Cup of Bulgaria makes it an even more impresssive 44-0 in domestic competitions for them.

After a convincing away win in the third game - 90-68 - in Botevgrad, Lukoil Academic swept the Final playoff series with Balkan too - 3-0. It's a 6-th consecutive Bulgarian title for the club.

The game turned into a basketball lecture by Lukoil's point guard Willie Deane, who was especially unstoppable during the first 10 minutes. The 6 ft 1 in American scored 18 out of the opening 22 points for his team and after 8 minutes of play the visitor led 9-22. Deane hit 4 treys with his first 4 attempts, until a quarter-ending buzzer shot from downtown spoiled his percentage a bit. Yet, after the end of that first period Lukoil had scored twice az much as the hosts - 13-26.

In the second quarter, inspired by their faithful supporters in the sold out Balkan hall, the team from Botevgrad improved theit performance. Ivan Lilov, who had been excellent in the first half, scored a basket to bring the margin down to just 6, with 39 sec. remaining to the break (33-39). But then yet another three-pointer by Deane made it 33-42 at half-time.

At the start of the second half on 2 more occasions the vistors' lead was just 6 points. But some tight defense, a few fast breaks and great teamwork by Todor Stoykov, Willie Deane and Larry O'Bannon it was once again plane sailing for Lukoil, who lead by 21 points after the third (68-47). Stoykov seemed especially motivated to wrap up the game as early as possible.

The fourth quarter was sreved to give some more playing time to the youngster of both team, especially Lukoil. At one point the fans in Botevgrad even saw something very rare for the games of the champions this season: 9 out of 10 on the court were Bulgarian and just one import player.

Deane notched up 39 point, even though he was rested for the last 7 minutes of the game. That was his second best of 2007/08, his season high being the 41 points in Game 1 of the Semifinal series versus Spartak Pleven. Besides his 6 three-pointers, he also had a few ipressive dunks.

Todor Stoykov and Pero Antic both had 11 points and 4 assistes for the victors, while shooting guards Riste Stefanov and Chavdar Kostov scored 7 points apiece.

It was naother strong performance by young prodigy Ivan Lilov of Balkan - 24 points, as well as 4 boards and 4 steals. Home team coach Georgi Mladenov rotated all of his bench onto the court as early as the first half. Even without their injured starting point guard Pavle Boljkovac, the hosts showed some spirit and battled bravely for at least a respectable performance against super favorites Lukoil Academic.

Although we already know the champion of Bulgaria (to be fair, we knew who it be even before the start of the final series or rather - before the start of the season itself), there is one more game left to be played in 2007/08. On Wednesday night in Triaditsa Hall in the capital Sofia Levski play host to Spartak Pleven in Game 3, the series decider for the bronze medals.

FULL STATS OF THE BALKAN BOTEVGRAD - LUKOIL ACADEMIC THIRD GAME