Rilski Sportist progress to the Final Four in style

Bulgarians Rilski Sportist became the second team to advance to the Final Four (24-25 March) of the Eurohold Balkan League 2008/09. Having topped Group B in the Regular Season they were always the favourites for their Quarterfinal match-up and confirmed that in emphatic fashion with a 93-67 home rout of Serbian team Radnicki 034 Group in the second leg. The margin of victory could have been even bigger for the Bulgarians if they hadn`t eased off in the 4th quarter, after having built a lead of almost 40 points in the third.
 
Rilski Sportist started explosively with triples in their first two possesesions (by Ivan Lilov and Bogdan Boev) to lead 6-0. Radnicki 034 Group temporarily recovered, thanks to the offensive efforts of their star front court duo Danilo Draskovic and Rajko Kljajevic (8-6). But soon Travis Peterson with three consecutive baskets and Dragoslav Papic with his trademark three-pointer started another surge and the home team restored its 6 point adantage, which they kept until the end of the first quarter - 26-20. For the Samokov side Peterson and Boev had already notched up 8 points apiece, while the visitors had Draskovic leading them at that point with 7.
 
Another good run by the hosts (8-0) saw them with a comfortable 14-point lead just two and a half minutes into the second quarter. Then Radnicki cut it back to a single digit margin (34-25), and even to just 5 points on an Ivan Milosevic jumpshot with 3 minutes to go to the break - 39-34. The next scoring flurry by Rilski Sportist (including a couple of treys by Branko Mirkovic) though brought their lead back to double digits at the half-time break - 50-39. It had been a very productive second quarter for Draskovic with 10 points in that one and 17 on his record already, but that wasn`t helping his team much.
 
With Rilski Sportist scoring 6 of the first 8 points after the break (56-41) it became obvious that the visitors from Kragujevac were quickly losing the little chances they had of qualifying for the Final Four. With 25 points to make up for - 15 already in this game on the road and another 10 from the first game at home - they now lost their hope and urge to try too. Radnicki`s game totally collapsed for the rest of that 3rd quarter, as they virtually stopped playing defence and conceded 26 more points. In the meantime they could only score 7 more and lost that 10 minute period by 32-7, trailing 82-46 at the end of it. The two primary scorers for Rilski Sportist in this game were flying high - Peterson added another 14 points to his tally in the 3rd quarter and started the 4th with 24 under his belt, while Boev scored 10 for a total of 18 already.
 
Instead of humiliating the visiting team further, Rilski Sportist decided to spare some effort during the last quarter and the visiting team were able to have a run of 4-11 and bring their deficit back bellow 30 points (86-57). It was even as low as 25, which the home team maintained until the end, without pushing too much.
 
For the easy 93-67 victory of Rilski Sportist the scoring guard-center duo of Travis Peterson and Bogdan Boev were the best in the final stats sheet too, although Peterson got a deserved rest during much of the last quarter and both he and Boev went scoreless in that one. The American center finished with 24 points and 10 boards - his second consecutive double double in that quarterfinal series and fifth of the BIBL season. Boev had 18 points, including 4 triples. Dragoslav Papic contributed 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals for the win, while young guard Ivan Lilov added 10 points.
 
For the visitors Danilo Draskovic could only score 2 points in the second half that turned out so ruinous for his entire team too. He finished with 19, adding 10 rebounds for a double double that probably doesn`t console him too much. Rajko Kljajevic, Petar Beader and Uros Duvnjak were another 3 Radnicki 034 Group starters with double digit points to their names - 14, 13 and 10 respectively.
 
In one of the semis of the Final Four of the BIBL Rilski Sportist will face the winner of the fourth quarterfinal tie between Mega Hypo Leasing and Swisslion Takovo.