Fersped Rabotnicki defeated Dinamo Bucharest again

Fersped Rabotnicki from the FYROM won their second regular season encounter with Romanians Dinamo, this time beating them in Bucharest - 66-72. The Macedonians are now third in Group B with a winning record (3-2) and hold much better chances of not only going to through to the quarters, but also achieving a higher seed and avoiding the favourites from the other group. Dinamo (last place at 1-4) seem likely to miss out on the qualification, but there are still 3 games to go for them too, so many things can change until the end of the group stage.
 
The home team started better and scored the first 6 points of the game. After 3 minures of play they were still in front by that margin (10-4), but that was when their offensive troubles began. Dinamo missed several consecutive shots and allowed Rabotnicki to turn it around at 10-11. In the 4 minutes remaining to end of the quarter the Macedonian team built a 5-point advantage - 14-19.
 
Dinamo played a good second quarter though - by the midpoint of that they had managed to tie the scores at 26-26, as center Kiril Pavlovski scored his 6th point against his compatriots. Then Rabotnicki peeped in front again, but Dinamo guard Claudiu Fometescu was on a good run and he finished the first half with a three-pointer to cut it to 31-32 and a tally of 9 pts for himself at the break. Aleksandar Dimitrovski had nothed up 9 points too, with his team just holding on to a lead at the end of that second quarter.
 
The third was characterized by a lot of missed shots by both teams, especially the hosts. By the midpoint of the period the balance was 2-6 in that one and 33-38 overall. Then a 5-point spurt by Ognen Stojanovski made it 33-43 with a 0-9 run by the visitors. Rabotnicki couldn`t keep their lead at double digits in the last 4 minutes of the quarter though and the Romanian team fought back to 44-48 by the end of it.
 
Some good shooting by Toni Grncarov and Dime Tasovski in the opening minutes of the fourth period enhanced the visitors` lead again. Center Toni Simic was playing well too and by the 33rd minute of the game he had already achieved a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. In the meantime his team`s advantage went up to 12 points (47-59) after a 0-9 run and it lingered at 10 to 13, until the game entered its final 2 minutes. That was when the home team`s last attempted come-back resulted in a 7-1 run for a score of 63-69 with 45 seconds to go. Naturally, Dinamo weren`t going to allow the opposition to play out time and began with the tactical fouls, but unluckily for them Tasovski showed nerves of steel from the line and made it 63-71. A triple by Razvan Popa with less than half a minute to go proved to be too little too late, as desperate attempts at another one by Popa himself (at 16``) and Fometescu (with the buzzer) were off the target.
 
Toni Grncarov led the scorers in the defence-dominated game with just 16 points. Accumulated for both teams, there were more shots missed then made in both FG shooting categories and the FT shooting stats were not much better either (especially for the hosts - a poor 5-14). Another two players contributed to Rabotnicki`s victory with double digit scoring - Stojanovski and Toni Simic, both finishing with 12, the latter also adding 11 rebounds.
 
Four of Dinamo`s starters were into double figures, but none of them managed to score more than 13 - Claudiu Fometescu (11), Kiril Pavlovski (12), Viorel Mocanu (12) and Razvan Popa (13).
 
Dinamo have just one home fixture left and it might be a decider for the coveted 4th place on the last day - versus Bulgarians Levski on the 18 February. But for that to happen, Dinamo will probably have to win at least one of their two away games before that (in January) - at Rilski Sportist and Mega Hypo Leasing.
 
Fersped Rabotnicki`s schedule is much favourable - they only play at home next year, hosting Serbs Mega Hypo Leasing first, then Levski and on the final matchday Rilski Sportist.