Rilski take the 1-0 lead after dramatic OT win against OKK in Belgrade

The 2009 EUROHOLD Balkan League champions - BC Rilski Sportist took the homecourt advantage to their Arena Samokov, as they defeated OKK Beograd 88:93 in the first quarterfinal game of the 2010/2011 BIBL. With that win Rilski took a 1-0 lead in the best of three series and will have the chance to close the series next week in Samokov.
 
Marko Icelic startede the game with Slobodan Dundjerski, Dragan Mitrovic, Srdjan Zivkovic, Stanoje Knezevic and Uros Lucic. On the other side Rosen Barchovski chose Dimitar Karadjovski, Aleksadandar Gruev, Ivan Lilov, Vladimir Mijovic and Dragomir Marojevic.
 
Ivan Lilov scored the first points tonight, giving Rileco a 0-2 lead in Sport EKO Gym. OKK Beograd didn′t have their first lead until 8.45 remaining in the first, when Zivkovic made the score 5:4. Knezevic scored for 7:4, and after that OKK extended their run to 7:0 for 9.4. Rilski were struggling in the opening minutes. Dragomir Marojevic once again gave his team the lead (13:15), before Milos Pavlovic made it 16:15 with a three. Sasho Gruev scored for 16:17 with 3.52 and that′s where OKK′s problems started. Gruev scored two free-throws, making his team′s lead 16:23, before Karadjovski extended the run to 11:0 for 16:26. Pavlovic made it 19:26, but until the end of the first OKK failed to score a basket, while Rilski made 9 unanswered points for 19:35 after the first quarter.
 
Dragomir Marojevic scored the first basket in the second, making Rilski′s lead 19:37 and scoring his 11th point. Dundjerski and Vaklinov exchanged baskets for 23:39 with 6.34 to go in the half. OKK struggled in the next minutes, failing to decrease Rileco′s lead. However, Lucic and Mitrovic scored four unanswered points, to bring the gap down to just 30:43 with around minute to go. At halftime the score was 32:50 for Rilski Sportist.
 
After the halftime break, Rilski led the game by 20 - as Marojevic scored for 32:52. OKK responded with strong defense and a seven to noghing run, to decrease the difference to 39:52. However, the home side wouldn′t give up, extenging their run to 15:0 as the score was now 47:52 - just 5 points more for Rilski. Marojevic once again scored to make it 47:54, but OKK responded with another run, this time 7:1, bringing the difference down to a single point - 54:55. The two teams would settle for 55:57 after 30 minutes, as OKK outscored Rilski 23:7 in the third period.
 
OKK made the difference just one point  - 56:57 after Lucic scored one free throw, before Rilski broke ahead by 5 - 56:61. Neither team could shoot the ball well in the third, as there was a gap with almost three minutes without a basket - from 8.11 until 5.39 when Ivan Lilov scored for 58:65. Knezevic, Dundjerski and Lucic combined for five unanswered points to make it 63:65 with 4.15 left. Marojevic scored for Rilski after his team′s time out - 63:67 with 3.16 left. Lucic answered with a basket for 65:67, before Lilov gave Rilski a 5-point lead - 65:70 with 1.41 to go. Aleksandar Gruev fouled out and Aleksandar Vasic made 2 free-throws for 67:70. After that he made another two to tie the game at 70:70, before Vladimir Mijovic scored a three for 70:73 with 35 seconds left. In the following seconds, Dragomir Marojevic missed three FT attempts, while Dundjerski scored three - OKK led the game 74:73, when Marojevic made his last shot from the FT - 1 out of 4 to send the game to overtime - 74:74, as Dragan Mitrovic missed his shot in the last second.
 
The overtime started with a shootout between Ivan Lilov and Srdjan Zivkovic, as in the first minutes of the extra period Lilov scored 6 points, against 3 for Zivkovic, to put RIlski ahead 77:80 with 2.10 to go. Mijovic scored the next four points for Rilski, to give his team a 77:84 lead. Zivkovic made two free-throws (79:84), before Karadjovski did the same (79:86) with 25 seconds to go. Vasic kept hope alive for OKK, scoring a three for 82:86 with 22 seconds left. Ivan Lilov shot 2/2 from the charity stripe - 82:88 with 18 seconds to go, before Stanojevic immediately answered with a three for 85:88. Youngster Darin Ivanov was perfect from the line (2/2) and gave Rilski the 85:90 lead. Srdjan Zivkovic, the former Rileco player made only 1 FT (86:90) and fouled Vladimir Mijovic, who also only made 1 FT (86:91) with 4 seconds to go. After OKK′s timeout, Zivkovic made 2 free-throws for 88:91, before fouling out. Darin Ivanov sealed Rilski′s win with another two free-throws - 88:93.
 
OKK Beograd could be really sorry for their free-throw shooting, which could′ve decided the game - Marko Icelic′s boys made only 25 out of 45 shots for one point. On the other side Rilski shot 22/35 from the charity stripe.
 
Dragan Mitrovic and Slobodan Dundjerski impressed for OKK tonight. Mitrovic, the 200-cm tall team captain had 7 points, 15 assists and 5 rebounds in 42 minutes for an efficiency rating of 22. Dundjerski added an impressive double-double - 21 points and 11 steals, along with 8 rebounds. Srdjan Zivkovic scored 20 points against his former club, while Uros Lucic added 14 in the loss.
 
Ivan Lilov was RIlski′s top scorer with 25 points. Dragomir Marojevic had a solid game, being one rebound away from a double-double - 19 points and 9 rebounds. Vladimir Mijovic missed only three shots for his 15 points in just 18 minutes. Dimitar Karadjovski added 12 points. Aleksandar Gruev had 8 points, 6 assists and 3 steals before fouling out of the game.
 
The second game from the series will be played on the 29th of March in Samokov.