Languid Cherno More demolished by Levski in Varna

Marcus Hall tortured Cherno More's defence

21-04-2009 19:47

Levski clinched second place in the Bulgarian National Basketball League (NBL) Regular season after a blowout 58-84 away victory over the only team that had any chance of catching them - Euroins Cherno More. In fact, the game was much more important for the hosts, who weren't looking at the second place, but rather the third. Despite this latest setback, the men from Varna still have the chance of getting that and avoiding a playoff clash with champions Lukoil Academic before the finals. But to do that Euroins Cherno More have to win on the road versus another 3rd place contestant Rilski Sportist on Saturday and hope that at the same the third team involved in that battle - Spartak Pleven - lose to Lukoil at home.

As for today's game in Varna, it was only really competitive during the opening 15 minutes. That was when Levski center Stefan "Toro" Georgiev was playing great (12 points in the first quarter), but the Euroins Cherno More team was doing well too, especially their combo-guard Corey McIntosh and center Dusan Jelic-Koutsopoulos. But from then on it was Marcus Hall that got all the attention, as the home team's defence was totally unable to stop him. Thanks mainly to his input in offence and the defensive efforts of the entire Levski team, the visitors increased their advantage from 5 points in the 16th minute to a whopping 18-point lead at half-time.

After the break Cherno More were unable to mount any kind of a come-back and coach Daniel Dimitrov's constant rotation didn't make any difference, as almost all of his players looked like they had an off-day. An Arnas Kazlauskas 3-pointer to end the 3rd quarter at 41-65 was the final nail in the coffin for an already disheartened home team. In the 4th quarter they even stopped trying and Levski weren't playing on 100% either, so both teams just palyed out time to finish the game at 58-84.

Marcus Hall had a game high 22 points, as well as 8 assists, 5 boards and 3 steals. Stefan Georgiev had a total of 14 points, just 2 for the last 32 minutes of the game, but was still very efficient in the paint and added 8 rebounds and 2 blocks - the third 2-block game in a row for him. Asen Velikov had 11 points, 5 assists and, amazingly for his size, 7 rebounds. Arnas Kazlauskas contributed another 11 points off the bench.

Corey McIntosh had 14, half of a mere 28 points that the Cherno More starters accumulated. Zeljko Bojovic added another 10, while substitutes Dusan Jelic-Koutsopoulos and Bryce Sheldon scored 10 and 8 respectively.