A well suffered victory for Spartak against Yambol


A well suffered victory for Spartak against Yambol
Iliya Stankov with 24 points
01-03-2008 20:44

Spartak Pleven won with difficulty against Yambol in this round of the Bulgarian A-1. The final result 90-86, only 4-point-advantage for the home team speaks for itself how equal the game at “Balkanstroy” was.
 
After Spartak took the lead with 85-81 half a minute before the last siren all home team’s  fans thought the match was over. The players of Spartak, however, did their best to keep the game going till the last second. They let the tall Vadim Reka, score a three-pointer, and a second later Stanislav Govedarov stole a ball from the home team’s guard Tsvetoslav Ostrev and put Yambol a point ahead with only 19 seconds left.
 
Iliya Stankov, who had an impressive game today, scored at a crucial moment 10 seconds before the end to give his team the lead - 87-86. Then Govedarov made a turnover and four seconds before the end an unsporting foul was whistled. Hrisimir Dimitrov scored one of the free-throws and two seconds later another two for the final score 90-86.
 
The guests, however, played as equals to the favourites in this game and also deserved the win. After ten minutes of play they were leading by 5 points (18-23), but in the second quarter their performance dropped and the hosts ended the first half with a 10-0 run, which put them ahead with 2 points (46-44).
 
Instead of securing their lead earlier, Darin Velikov’s players expected Yambol to lose the game by themselves. They, on the other side, played really hard and after thirty minutes took the lead again (61-63). They led with as many as 6 point in the final quarter, but nevertheless Spartak were repeatedly coming back into the game. When all came to the dramatic ending the hosts showed stronger nerves.  With this win Spartak Pleven took a rematch for the two consecutive losses in Yambol a month ago.
 
Stankov was the top scorer with 24 points (3 three-pointers) and the Croatian Bojo Barac added 17 points and 5 rebounds. The captain Hrisimir Dimitrov wasn’t as successful as usual in the shooting and thanks to nine points from the free-throw line, was able to achieve double figures to finish with 11 points. Sasha Topchov scored 15 points before leaving the court for 5 personal fouls.  
 
For the guests Govedarov had 22 and grabbed 10 rebounds but also made 10 turnovers. Vadim Reka added 19 while shooting 6/6 from the field, 1/2 from the three point line and made all 4 of his free throws.
 
Three players from the visiting team left the game for 5 personal fouls – Kirilo Skumatov, Martin Horozov and Stoyo Cholakov.
 
In the final round before the break for the HDI All Star Game and the tournament for the Bulgarian Cup next Wednesday, Spartak Pleven is visiting Cherno More in Varna, while Yambol hosts Balkan Botevgrad.
 
FULL STATS FROM THE GAME SPARTAK PLEVEN - YAMBOL

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