Balkan achieved a dramatic victory over the champion Rilski Sportist with 79:78 (18:23, 17:20, 19:19, 25:16) as a host at “Arena Botevgrad“ in a match from the 26th round in the National Basketball League for Men (NBL). A basket by Travis McConnico 4 seconds before the end brought the success to the hosts, BTA reported.
Thus, after two losses in the past two rounds, Balkan congratulated itself with its 19th victory. Rilski Sportist interrupted its series of three victories and continues with the same asset 19-5.
The guests had a 5-point lead – 23:18 after the first half, and at the break they led with 43:35. Botevgrad was trailing by 8 points - 54:62 before the final 10 minutes, and then Alan Arnett converted for 76:71 in favor of Rilski Sportist with 1:50 minutes left in the game. Balkan came close to a point at 75:76, and Travis McConnico put the hosts ahead for 77:76 30 seconds before the end. Chavdar Kostov was accurate twice from the penalty line and returned the lead to Rilski for 78:77, but then Macconico scored the winning basket.
The most productive player for Balkan was Travis Macconico with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, while Taj Green added 15 points and 5 rebounds.
Chavdar Kostov contributed with 17 points and 4 rebounds for the guests from Samokov, and Hristo Bachkov formed a “double-double“ of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv defeated Beroe with 96:83 (29:18, 23:24, 16:15, 28:26) as the host in the “Sila“ hall in another match of the round, recording their third consecutive and 15th victory since the beginning of the season. After their two successes in the previous matches, the basketball players of Beroe had to come to terms with their 14th loss in 24 games.
The hosts gained a comfortable lead in the first quarter, at the end of which they led 29:18. A very interesting second half followed, in which the team from Stara Zagora twice came close to 3 points, but Lokomotiv did not lose the lead and after 20 minutes of play the score was 52:42. In the third period, the team from Plovdiv maintained an advantage of about ten points to lead 68:57 before the final part. The guests did not manage to get any closer to the result until the end and the team from Plovdiv rejoiced with another victory.
Khalil Miller distinguished himself with a “double-double“ of 20 points and 19 rebounds for the hosts, while Shaw Anderson added 17 points and 4 rebounds.
For Beroe, Brett Reed finished with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
In their next matches on March 25, Balkan will be away at Miner 2015, Rilski Sportist - at Shumen, Beroe - at Spartak Pleven, and Lokomotiv - is resting.