Rilski is on to the Final 4 after a home win and 2-0 against OKK

Rilski Sportist has qualified for the 2011 Final Four of the EUROHOLD Balkan League. Tonight in Arena Samokov Rosen Barchovski′s boys defeated OKK Beograd 66:57, and after the 88:93 win in Belgrade a week earlier, swept the quarterfinal series 2-0.
 
Rilski will play in the last stage of the BIBL for the second time, as back in 2009 they won the Cup after hosting the Final Four in Samokov.
 
Ivan Lilov scored the first basket tonight, giving Rileco a 2:0 lead. In the next minutes, Rilski increased their lead to 6 points - 8:2. OKK were struggling in the opening minutes, as things weren′t looking good for them, after Lilov made it 13:4 with 3.22 left. The home side even got a double-digit lead when Radojevic made it 15:5, but after 10 minutes of play they were up by 8 - 17:9.
 
With the start of the second quarter Rileco once again were up by 10 (19:9), before OKK decreased the difference to 19:11. The home side continued to dictate the play, and at some point they led the game 25:13. Before halftime they held a double-digit lead a couple of more times, before settling down for 31:23 after 20 minutes of basketball in Samokov.
 
After halftime Rilski started with 7 unanswered points in the opening 2.12 of the second half, increasing their lead to 15 - 38:23. However OKK didn′t seem like giving up and in the next minutes they made an 11:2 run, decreasing the difference to 40:34. Karadjovski and Mijovic scored two three-pointers in a row to make it 46:35. From this point until the end of the third period, Rilski scored only 3 points, against 10 for OKK, and after 30 minutes the difference was just 4 points - 49:45.
 
 
Both teams put a lot of effort on the defense and in the fourth quarter, they scored a total of just 5 points in the first 3.30 minutes (52:47). Srdjan Zivkovic scored for 52:49 before Stanislav Vaklinov made it 54:49. His basket was the start of a 6:0 run that would put Rileco ahead 58:49. Slobdan Dundjerski made it 59:51 with 3.03 to go. OKK decreased the difference down to 4 points - 59:55 with 1.55 to go, but Sasho Gruev made it 62:55 with an and-one play. The final score was settled at 66:57, as Rilski dribbled out their final offense waiting for the clock to end.   Ivan Lilov finished with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds, as he put in a lot of effort on defense as well. Aleksandar Gruev was the only other player to score in double digits, finishing with 13, including some decisive plays in the last minutes. Aleksandar Radojevic came in good off the bench with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.   Slobodan Dundjerski scored 11 for OKK in the loss, while Dragan Mitrovic and Aleksandar Vasic added 10 each. Uros Lucic finished the game with 8 points and 13 rebounds.