Spartak get their first win in the EUROHOLD BIBL

Spartak Pleven got off not to a very good start, but in the end were celebrating after a 77:60 win against Mornar Bar, which was their first win in the EUROHOLD Balkan League.
 
Mornar got off to a flying start in Pleven tonight, as they dominated in the first quarter. They held the difference over 5 points almost the whole quarter, and finally after 10 minutes they were up 13:19.
 
Darin Velikov`s side woke up for the second period, and step by step started turning things around. Spartak were ahead for the 23rd minute after Veselin Georgiev scored for 25:24. Chad Barnes gave the lead back to Mornar (25:26), but from here until the end it was all Spartak on the floor. At halftime Pleven were ahead 40:32.
 
Early in the third quarter Mornar decreased their losing to 5 points - 42:37 in the 32nd minute, and 45:40 in the 35th, but an unanswered 8:0 run put Spartak up by 13 points (53:40). After 30 minutes of play they were up 57:44.
 
In the closing period, Spartak only managed to win by more. At one point their lead was 22 points, after Rob Preston scored 2 free-throws for 75:53 with less than 3 minutes until the end of regulation. Spartak took the last period 20:16, for the final score of 77:60.
 
Joseph Kennerly had a great game for Pleven, after his not so good debut. The 206-cm tall American big man managed to score 17 points and to grab a game-high 10 rebounds. The other American - Rob Preston scored the most points for Spartak - 18, as he added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in just 22 minutes. Veselin Georgiev, who started at the small forward in the absence of Hrisimir Dimitrov scored 11 points.
 
For Mornar Bar Milos Djurisic was the best performer with his 22 points. Also he was the only player for Mornar to finish in double digits. Anthony Brown, Filip Samojlovic and Radovan Pesic had 7 points each.
 
That was Spartak`s first ever win in the EUROHOLD Balkan League, as in their debut game last month they lost at home to OKK Beograd. Now both teams, Spartak and Mornar have a 1-1 balance in Group B, as Mornar defeated Steaua in the first round.