Euroins Cherno More have 16 points in hand over Fersped Rabotnicki

Euroins Cherno More became one of the two Bulgarian teams to take a 16-point lead after their BIBL quarterfinal first leg games at home tonight. The Varna team defeated Fersped Rabotnicki from the FYROM by 78-62 and in theory will now be favourites to get to the Final Four, taking that 16-point advantage with them to Skopje in exactly one week time. On the other hand, it sounds like a simple task for Rabotnicki next week - win the game at home by 17 and qualify for the semis.
 
Euroins Cherno More coach Predrag Badnjarevic had a surprise up his sleeve. He had chosen a starting line-up that was completely unexpected and different to the ones in previous games, including a starting place for young shooting guard Vasil Kyosev, who hadn`t even played a single minute in the BIBL so far and averaged less than 2 minutes in 4 games off the bench in the Bulgarian NBL. Also, experienced center Ntousan Koutsopoulos was given his first start since he joined Cherno More on the 5th of February.
 
The surprise tactical move probably worked, as Fersped Rabotnicki were able to score just 2 points in the first four and a half minutes of the game (with the opening basket), while the hosts went on a 9 point roll to lead 9-2. The last two points of that were scored by Kyosev, while Koutsopoulos was the star of the first quarter, as he netted 9 of his teams points for a 19-9 lead after those opening 10 minutes.
 
The star of the entire first half for the home team was a more expected one though - guard Corey McIntosh, who leads the entire BIBL in scoring so far, had 6 points in that first quarter and 4 more in the second. Brazilian center Atila Santos had already joined the action too at the start of the second period and delivered 8 points, a rebound and an assist in just those 10 minutes until haf-time. Forward Zeljko Bojovic was also playing well and getting lots of rebounds (9 in the first half).
 
Euroins Cherno More also continued to play good defence, but were especially good in offence, where they drew a lot of fouls. Thus, with some fine free throw shooting they stretched their lead to a comfortable 17 points at the break - 41-24. The Rabotnicki players were spreading whatever points they managed to score between themselves, with 6 of them notching up from 2 up to 6 in the first half. But they also had 5 men with 2 personal fouls to their name after those opening 20 minutes.
 
The hosts continued at the start of the second half from where they had left off in the first - playing well and increasing their advantage. They quickly boosted that up to over 20 points at 45-24 and even 50-27. But the Macedonian visitors battled baravely, although they now knew they would lose the game in Varna. But it was crucial for them to keep their margin of defeat as low as they could, so they would keep their chances alive for the return leg at home. Macedonian NT forward Dime Tasovski and guard Ognen Stojanovski had a productive third quarter and in the latter 5 minutes of that one their team was able to keep its deficit down at 20 points, despite the offensive efforts of Corey McIntosh, who had continued his scoring binge. That third 10-minute frame ended at 63-43.
 
The surge of Rabotnicki to keep down the margin lasted until the middle of the last quarter, as the 1-13 run helped them even bring it back to an 11-point game - 64-53. But the home team players started drawing charges again and scoring from the FT line. Then consecutive triples by their reserve point guard Julian Radionov and Zeljko Bojovic insured they had a 16-point lead again, despite Rabotnicki guard Aleksandar Ugrinoski scoring from downtown as well between those two. It turned into something of a 3-point shooting contest as the visiting team`s center Toni Simic popped up and scored one from behind the arc (his 3rd of the game), but missed another. After a few more free throws and time outs (just goes to show how important each point of lead/deficit was considered by both coaches) the game ended at 78-62.
 
Corey McIntosh, who had an average of more than 25 points per contest in the BIBL for the season, once again lead the scorers for his team tonight, although he dropped below 20 this time around - 18 points on 5/11 shooting from the floor and 7/8 from the charity stripe. Ntousan Koutsopoulos added 15 points for the win, Zeljko Bojovic had a great double-double of 12 points and 15 boards, while Bryce Sheldon contributed 12 points off the bench.
 
Ognen Stojanovski and Dime Tasovski turned out to be the only ones in double figures for the visitors, with 15 and 12 points respectively.