Rilski Sportist stole the show in Targu Mures

BC Rilski Sportist overcame BC Mures in a great basketball game tonight in the City Arena in Targu Mures. In the full arena, BC Mures′ great supporters didn′t stop cheering for their team all game long, but in the end it came down to just one shot, which was made by Ivan Lilov, and Rilski Sportist won 89:90.
 
Rilski Sportist scored the first basket of the night, after a succesful shot by Atanas Radev, but Jason Forte quickly made it 2:2. After that Rilski Sportist pressed their opponents and managed to break ahead 6:10 after a basket from Vaklinov with 5.56 on the clock. Stanislav Vaklinov scored again for 9:16, but that were Rilski′s last points for the next 1.25, as BC Mures made a 8:0 run to make the score 17:16. Ivan Lilov tied the score at 21:21, but after 10 minutes BC Mures were up 25:22.
 
BC Mures opened up the second period with a 4:0 run to extend their lead to 29:22, before Atanas Radev made it 29:25 after converting an and-one play. The game was tied at 31:31 with 6.28 to go, before Aleksandar Mladenovc and Bogdan Boev exchanged baskets for 33:33, and 35:35 after that. Martin Marinov gave Rilski their first lead in the second quarter after scoring a three-pointer for 38:39. Both teams changed the lead a couple more times before the score was set to 45:45 halfway through.
 
Jason Forte made a dunk for 47:45 right after the start of the second half. Rilski were trailing, before Atanas Radev gave them a 51:52 lead 2.50 in the third quarter. Rileco managed to break ahead by 6 - 51:57 before Flavius Lapuste tied it at 57 with less than 4.30 remaining. Rilski struggled to go ahead with a bigger margin, but after two new ties they were up 66:68 before the closing quarter. 
 
The last quarter started with a 5:2 run by Rilski Sportist which gave them a 68:73 lead. Gytas Sirutavicius was fouled and made 3 free-throws to bring the difference down to 71:73. Rilski remained in control, as Martin Marinov (79:81) and Atanas Radev (79:83) gave them the lead, after the game was tied at 79 with less than 4 minutes to go. Aleksandar Todorov′s team were seeing theirselves clear winners as the score was 81:88 with 45 seconds remaining, but Eddy Mayfield reduced the difference to 84:88 with a trey and Aleksandar Mladenovic converted the basket and the foul for 87:88 with 21 seconds remaining. Rilski Sportist made a 24-second violation in their next offense, and right after a home time-out JuJuan Cooley scored for 89:88. Ivan Lilov took the ball with 2.8 remaining and scored a 2-point shot to give Rilski the 89:90 victory, in a game which both teams deserved to win.
 
The hero Ivan Lilov scored 19 points, along with 10 rebounds and 6 assists for the win. Bogdan Boev notched in 4 three-pointers, finishing with 16 points, while youngster Stanislav Vaklinov added 15. Atanas Radev scored 14, and Martin Marinov came up big off the bench with 13. Rilski outrebounded BC Mures 38:27.
 
Aleksandar Mladenovic was outstanding for BC Mures finishing with 31 points and 7 rebounds, on 13/19 shooting. JuJuan Cooley and Jason Forte had 14 points each, as Forte added 9 boards and 7 assists. Flavius Lapuste finished with 10 points. BC Mures were perfect from the charity stripe, scoring all 24 free-throws they had, but their 3-point shooting was bad today - only 3 out of 27 attempts.