Perfect start for Pini and company in the qualifiers
20-08-2008 21:25
The men’s National Team of Bulgaria started impressive their Eurobasket 2009 qualification campaign under coach Pini Gershon. In full Universiada hall in Sofia they defeat Hungary by 18 points – 89-71.
American with Bulgarian passport Ibrahim Jaaber was the best player on the court in that opening game from qualifications. Born in Brooklyn point guard showed how important he will be during the friendly games, played by the team so far. Now he proved it in the first official game with national team jersey.
Jaaber scored 23 points and added 5 assists and 3 steals while Filip Videnov added 15 points. It’s interesting that all of them came behind the 3-point line (5 of 10 for three points). He also dished 5 assists.
Great addition to the team were reserves in this game – Deyan Ivanov ended with double double performance – 15 points and 12 boards while Stefan Georgiev was just a rebound shy from the same – 14 points and 9 rebounds.
For the visitors Erno Sitku ended with game high 15 points and Istvan Nemeth and Tamas Kaman scored 13 points apiece.
During the opening minutes of the game Hungary was pretty even but as soon as Videnov hit 3 tthree pointers in row Bulgarians went up by 8 points (17-9). The home side kept the distance after one (24-16).
Hungarian team got back after they managed to stroke few times in row from behind the 3-point line. They cut the score to only 2 (30-28) but Jaaber with few successful penetrations and Videnov with another 3-point shot put the home team in double digit advantage (40-30). At the end of the first half Hungarian beat the buzzer to cut the lead to 7 points – 47-40. They shot the ball for 3 points very well (7 of 13) in those first 20 minutes.
Second half started the same way, Hungarians continued to hit 3-points shots and at one point of the third quarter they had their only lead in the game (57-58) after long “bomb” by Nemeth. However that was pretty much it for visitors in this game. Bulgarians took over after Jaaber hit his only 3-pointer in the game and right after they run away from their opponents. Until the end there was a total domination of Bulgarian squad while hungarinas couldn’t manage to get their shots like they did earlier in the game.
FULL STATS OF THE BULGARIA - HUNGARY GAME
American with Bulgarian passport Ibrahim Jaaber was the best player on the court in that opening game from qualifications. Born in Brooklyn point guard showed how important he will be during the friendly games, played by the team so far. Now he proved it in the first official game with national team jersey.
Jaaber scored 23 points and added 5 assists and 3 steals while Filip Videnov added 15 points. It’s interesting that all of them came behind the 3-point line (5 of 10 for three points). He also dished 5 assists.
Great addition to the team were reserves in this game – Deyan Ivanov ended with double double performance – 15 points and 12 boards while Stefan Georgiev was just a rebound shy from the same – 14 points and 9 rebounds.
For the visitors Erno Sitku ended with game high 15 points and Istvan Nemeth and Tamas Kaman scored 13 points apiece.
During the opening minutes of the game Hungary was pretty even but as soon as Videnov hit 3 tthree pointers in row Bulgarians went up by 8 points (17-9). The home side kept the distance after one (24-16).
Hungarian team got back after they managed to stroke few times in row from behind the 3-point line. They cut the score to only 2 (30-28) but Jaaber with few successful penetrations and Videnov with another 3-point shot put the home team in double digit advantage (40-30). At the end of the first half Hungarian beat the buzzer to cut the lead to 7 points – 47-40. They shot the ball for 3 points very well (7 of 13) in those first 20 minutes.
Second half started the same way, Hungarians continued to hit 3-points shots and at one point of the third quarter they had their only lead in the game (57-58) after long “bomb” by Nemeth. However that was pretty much it for visitors in this game. Bulgarians took over after Jaaber hit his only 3-pointer in the game and right after they run away from their opponents. Until the end there was a total domination of Bulgarian squad while hungarinas couldn’t manage to get their shots like they did earlier in the game.
FULL STATS OF THE BULGARIA - HUNGARY GAME
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