Levski win in Ulcinj, remain first in Group A

The defending champions of the EUROHOLD Balkan League - BC Levski Sofia escaped with a win from Ulcinj where they played local side KK Ulcinj. After the 70:75 win, Titi Papazov′s team remained first in Group A with a 4-1 balance.   Levski underestimated their opposition, and also with the absence of Donald Cole, only Stefan Georgiev and Gjorgi Cekovski were the big men for the champions. They didn′t get the best possible start in JU Gimnazija Gym, and after the first 10 minutes were trailing - 15:13 for KK Ulcinj.   The home side remained ahead of their opposition after the begining of the second quarter, as they even extended their lead to 4 points - 27:23 with 6.17 left in the half. Zlatin Georgiev gave Levski a 27:28 lead, before the score was tied at 29:29. Levski made a six to nothing run for 29:35, and at halftime they led by 4 - 37:41.   Another run by Levski marked the start of the third period, as after 5-0 they were ahead by 9 points - 37:46. The champions managed to keep a nice margin between them and their opponents, but KK Ulcinj didn′t give up and after a couple of strong minutes for them things were tied at 56:56. However, Levski showed that they are more experienced and after 30 minutes were up 56:63.   The closing quarter wasn′t high scoring, but Ulcinj showed that they are a tough opposition, not allowing Levski to break ahead by double digits early in the fourth. Levski had their first double-digit lead - 59:70 after Boyko Mladenov′s first basket with 5.23 to go. In the next 4 minutes, neither team managed to score a basket, before Aleksandar Radulovic decreased his team′s losing to 9 points - 61:70. Aaron Harper commited an unsporsmanlike foul and was disqualified after that, with 31 seconds remaining, but that didn′t change the course of the game, as the final score was 70:75.   Aaron Harper scored the most points - 21, while Pavel Ivanov added 12. Zlatin Georgiev had 11 and 3 assists, and Gjorgi Cekovski scored 8 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.   Big man Aleksandar Radulovic scored 14 points for Ulcinj, while Alen Djelosevic finished the game with 12 and 7 rebounds. Nikola Jeftic had 10 points and grabbed 6 boards in Ulcinj′s losing effort.