Lukoil warms up for Artland with an easy win

09-11-2007 19:59 | Александър Сотиров

Lukoil Academic won against Cherno More Eurohold with a 27-point difference in the first game of the 8th round in the Bulgarian Men A-1. The final score in the Sports Complex in Pravec was 107-80 for the home side. The game was played one day earlier than all the other games from this round, due to Lukoil’s ULEB Cup clash against the Artland Dragons on Tuesday in Universiada Hall. There was some kind of challenge for the Students tonight only in the first 8 minutes, when the guests from Varna were leading with 19-20. After that there was a strong finish of the first quarter by Zeljko Lukajic’s side and the champions were leading 29-22.In the second quarter things came to usual, as with great defense and good work on the fastbreak Lukoil Academic led the game at halftime – 57-33.In the third period of play Lukajic rotated all the players, and Cherno More managed to take down the difference to 20 points – 80-60.In the last 10 minutes both teams just played calmly the rest of the game to fix the final score - 107-80.
That was 8th victory in a row for the Students in the Bulgarian championship, as they still remain the only unbeaten team. After their ULEB Cup game on Tuesday, they will go to Samokov to play against Rislki Sportist in their last game of the first rotation in the Men A-1. Cherno More has lost three of their last four games. On their schedule now there are two home games – against CSKA and then Balkan. Riste Stefanov exploded with 26 points, shooting 6/7 from beyond the arc, and also dished 6 assists and got 5 rebounds for 34 minutes. His Macedonian compatriot Pero Antic added 21 points and was one rebound short of a double-double – 9 rebounds. Debut for Lukoil Academic in the Bulgarian championship made the champions’ latest signing – the young Brazilian Murilo Da Rosa, who scored 18 points. American star Donta Smith finished with 16 points off the bench. Stevin Smith was in the starting line-up and for 17 minutes scored 2 points along with 4 assists and 2 rebounds. Youngster Dimitar Filipov didn’t play due to an injury.

For Cherno More, the Lithuanian center Augustinas Vitas had a good performance with 23 points and 9 boards, Leven Belberov added 15 points, and Simeon Tsenov finished with 11.

MORE NEWS