Not so impressive Levski was too much for HKK Zrinjski

           BC Levski defeated HKK Zrinjski Mostar 63:57 at home in Universiada in their first game in EUROHOLD Balkan League this season.  The Blues took the victory without to impress, thanks to the bigger experience. Levski showed that they are still no in their best shape, and with a lot of question around their final roster for this season. Zrinjski also will need more time to be in better condition, as the Bosnians has almost  a totally different team from the last season.

 
            In the opening quarter of the game neither team could go ahead with a
bigger lead, and Levski and Zrinjski were confused in front of the basket. Before. Levski had their first bigger lead - 11:6 in the seventh minute of the game. Zrinjski managed to tied the score - 11:11, but after that they couldn′t stop the fast breaks of Levski and after 10 minutes they were trailing by 3 points - 16:13.
 
            Levski started the second quarter very strong, and after 3 minutes they had their first double-digit lead for the tonight’s game - 25:14, after Hrisimir Dimitrov made a jumpshot. Zrinjski couldn′t reach the basket, as the team from Mostar managed to score their first points in the 5^th minute of the period.  Until the end of the quarter both coaches made a lot of substitutions, using 10
players each in the first 20 minutes. Halfway through the game the score was 7 points more for Levski – 33:26.

 
               In the begining of the third period, HKK Zrinjski made a 8-2 record, and after a successful lay-up by Armin Avdibegovic, they managed to decrease the difference to only 1 point – 35:34 in the 24^th minute of the game.  On the other side Marcus Hall took the game in his hands, as he led his team to 10 points lead 2:56 minutes before the end of the quarter.  After that Levski again thought that they have already won the game and only the bad  free-throw percentage helped them to have a bigger lead.  After 30 minutes on the court the Blues were up by 7 – 48:41.

 
                The fourth quarter started with 2 points from Marcel Jones, followed by a lay-up by Hrisimir Dimitrov. In the next 2 minutes neither team manage to score, to come the first three-pointer for HKK Zrinjski in the game made by Jones, 6 minutes before the final whistle. In the next offence of Zrinjski the American forward Ronald Slay made his 5th personal foul, followed by a technical foul for Slay. Then first Jovan Bogdanovic missed 2 free-throws, but Armin Avdibegovic made 2 and set the score to 50:48. Both teams exchanged three-pointers, as Dimitar Anguelov made one, followed by another one of Avdibegovic for 58:54 with 2:42 until the end of the game. One minute later Aleksandar Radulovic made a stupid 5th foul and Mitko Anguelov stood on the free-throw line, but the experienced forward missed the two shots. Until the end of the game HKK Zrinjski took a lot of wrong decisions and didn’t manage to decrease their trail. Marcel Jones made a striking miss under the basket with 28 seconds remaining. This move was decisive for the final score, setting it to 63:57 for Levski.

 

               Aaron Harper finished the game with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals. Vassil Evtimov added 9 points and 9 boards, while Hrisimir Dimitrov scored 10 points for the winners. Marcel Jones was the most efficient player on the court this evening, as he recorded a monster double-double of 17 points and 20 rebounds, but  American forward missed several times under the basket and do not let his team to take the victory. In the losing case Luka Klarica nailed 14 points, while Armin Avdibegovic ended with 13.