Yambol with a dramatic but important win over Rilski Sportist

Pavel Marinov gave his team the win

17-01-2009 21:53

The team of Yambol played one of its best games so far in the season and defeated one of the better teams Rilski Sportist 85-84 at home in Diana Hall. The 1500 spectators in the gym witnessed an intriguing and dynamic game with lots of come-backs and turnarounds. During the game there were 10 lead changes and 7 score ties.

The players of Yambol came out fully focused and had a 15-7 lead after five minutes. The lead even went up to 10 but the visitors cut it down, only to have it go up to 10 by the end of the opening period. Most of the second quarter was good for the hosts and after 17 minutes of play they were ahead by 14. However, in the last three minutes the visitors managed a 0-9 run and made it 44-39 at the break.

After halftime the game continued to be close and after six minutes the crowd witnessed the first tie in the game. Then the hosts again took a lead of 3-4 points and after 30 minutes the score was 63-61. In the last quarter Yambol took the lead but then again in the 5th minute of it the visitors tied the game. From then on the game was a real thriller and with 25 seconds to go Rilski Sportist went in front by a single point. With 7 seconds to go Pavel Marinov went to the line and scored both free throws to give his team the lead. Then the visitors missed the opportunity to do something with their last possession and lost the game.

Rilski Sportist's Dragoslav Papic had a second brilliant game in a row, after the one versus Euroins Cherno More - tonight he posted a double double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Bogdan Boev added 16 points for the visitors.

For Yambol Byron Sanders was at his best with 19 points and 17 rebounds, while Pavel Marinov scored 16.

In the next round Rilski Sportist hosts Sliven while Yambol travels to Pleven to meet Spartak.