Cherno More is the first finalist for the Bulgarian Cup

Bryce Sheldon scored 22 for the winners

25-03-2008 21:51

In a dramatic game Cherno More Eurohold beat Levski 76-72 in overtime (66-66 after the regular 40 minutes) and qualified for the final of the Bulgarian “Ledenika” Cup. After that loss Levski is going to play for the bronze medals tomorrow, while Cherno More expects the winner from the other semi-final between Lukoil Academic and CSKA. The final is on Thursday, 18:00 at “Arena Samokov”.

Cherno More started with an 8-0 run in the first 2 minutes, which set the course of the first quarter and after 10 minutes of play they were ahead by 12 (24-12). Levski tried to cut the lead but made lots of mistakes and missed too many shots during these first minutes to be able to do it. Until the middle of the second quarter nothing changed on the court and the team from Varna maintained their lead around 10 points. 5 minutes before the end of the first half Levski finally started to play better and managed to get closer and closer, reducing the lead to only 2 points at the half-time (37-35). After the break they continued to pressure Cherno More and 3:33 minutes before the end of the third quarter they got their biggest lead in the game – 40-50. The last 10 minutes started at 48-54, but Lobomir Minchev’s team couldn’t sustain the tempo and slowly started to lose control over the game. With a great team effort and a lot of concentration the players from Varna got back into the game and 3 minutes before the final whistle the score was tied. 1:16 before the end Cherno More were leading 64-63 and Levski had a chance to score on a few consecutive offences. They couldn’t do it and with 18 seconds to go Leven Belberov assisted Agustinas Vitas for a lay-up to make the score 66-63. Lobo Minchev immediately called a time-out but on the following attacks his players missed 4 free-throws and it all came up to the final moment of the regular time, when Asen Velikov got the rebound and scored an incredible triple with the siren, making it 66-66. In the overtime Cherno More were mentally stronger and managed to win the game and qualify for the final.

Levski’s players shot tragically from the three-point line and except Zlatin Georgiev (3/4) the rest of the team finished with 3 made triples out of 19 attempts. Although they won the rebounds under the two baskets (48-38), Levski made 24 mistakes and missed 16 free-throws. That made the game impossible to win, especially against the concentrated team of Cherno More, that made only 9 mistakes throughout the game and stole 15 balls, compared to only 5 steals by Levski’s players.

For the winners Bryce Sheldon was the top scorer with 22 points, while the Litovian Agustinas Vitas made an impressive double-double with 14 points and 17 rebounds.

For Levski only Stefan Georgiev with 14 points and 12 rebounds was at his usual level. Zlatin Georgiev added 13 points from the bench and Rob Preston finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds.

FULL STATS FROM THE GAME CHERNO MORE EUROHOLD - LEVSKI

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