First semifinal for Rilski Sportist in their history

Rilski sportist eliminated Spartak

10-05-2009 21:00

The men team of Rilski Sportist wrote a new page in its history and for first team qualified for the 1/2 final in the playoffs of Bulgarian championship. In a dramatic game the players of Aleksandar Todorov defeated Spartak Pleven 93-86 and after the win in Pleven two days ago advanced further. Rilski Sportist had no right to lose this chance after they "stole" the home court advantage of Spartak and fully took the opportunity. This wasn't an easy win but also nobody in Samokov expected the visitors to give up without a fight.

The players of Spartak Pleven scored 17 three-pointers but even this wasn't enough for a win. The visitors had decided to rely on this weapon and they had 42 attempts behind the three-point line. For most part of the game the shooting held the visitors in front but also a number of teams helped them get back in to the match. Veseling Georgiev had 5 three-pointers while Iliya Stankov, Aleksandar Dyakovski and Rob Preston scored 4 times each.

The last quarter of the game started with the score tied at 62. With 5.48 to go the score was once again even but then Ivan Nikolov scored a triple and then a basket by Travis Peterson gave the hosts a 74-69 lead. Stankov cut it down with a three but then Mirkovic made the difference seven points with 4 minutes to play.Then the visitors cut it to 79-78 and then tied the score at 81. Then there was the moment of Ivan Nikolov who with five straight points made the score 86-81 and after Hrisimir Dimitrov missed two free throws Mirkovic scored to give his team a 88-81 lead with 47 seconds to play. In the final seconds the hosts were mostly shooting free throws and at the buzzer they celebrated with a 93-86 win.

Top scorer for Spartak was Hrisimir Dimitrov with 22 points adding also 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Rob Preston finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Georgiev scored 15 all from the three-point line.

Two players of Rilski Sportist - Travis Peterson and Dragoslav Papic had a double-double. The American had 24 points, 14 rebounds and also 3 assists and 3 steals while the Serbian finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Very good game had also Branko Mirkovic with his 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

Rilski Sportist also showed very good shooting with 12 three-pointers. Seven players scored from the three-point line and good for the team was the fact that the players had only 10 turnovers.

Now Rilski Sportist will meet Lukoil Academic in the best-of-5 series. The home court advantage is for the champions but Riletso already showed that the team can play everywhere. The players from Samokov already defeated once Lukoil Academic and were close to another win in Pravets. So we are expecting an interesting battle and where Rilski Sportist will surely be looking to make the things difficult for its opponent.

FULL STATS OF THE RILSKI SPORTIST - SPARTAK PLEVEN GAME

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