Rileco shut Levski down and sent them back home

The 2009 BIBL champion Rilski Sportist defeated the 2010 champions from Levski in the "champions derby" in the first semifinal of the 2011 BIBL Final Four in Kavadarci, and after the 70:74 win will play in the final on Sunday.
 
 
Levski started the game with Jason Crowe, Aaron Harper, Stefan Georgiev, Zlatin
Georgiev and Gjorgi Cekovski. Rileco had Dimitar Karadjovski, Ivan Lilov, Vladimir Mijovic, Aleksandar Radojevic and Bogdan Boev in the starting five.
 
The defending champions from Levski had the lead in the opening minutes, as Stefan Georgiev scored the first basket  for 2:0, before Ivan Lilov gave Rilski a 2:3 lead. However Levski  quickly got back the lead 4:3. They maintained their good offensive flow and were up 9:5 with 7.53 to go. Dimitar Karadjovski made it 9:8 with a three, before Ivan Lilov scored 5 points in a row for 9:13 with 4.20 left. Levski also answered with a 5:0 run (14:13).  Lilov scored his 10t point to give his team a 15:18 lead with less than a minute to go. After the first period the score was 18:20 for Rilski Sportist.
 
Rileco started the second quarter with six to nothing run, before Donald Cole made a dunk for 20:26 with less than 8 minutes left. Rilski had their first double-digit lead – 20:30 with 7.12 left in the half.  Both teams scored for 22:32, before Levski
made a 5:0 run for 27:32 with 5.07 left. Gjorgi Cekovski scored in three consecutive
possessions  for Levski to make it 37:37. Aaron Harper tied the game at 42:42 with
58 seconds left, before Martin Marinov turned back a three for 42:45, which was
the score after 20 minutes.
 
After the halftime break Levski outscored Rileco 7:4 and tied the game at 49:49 with 6.17 left.  Rilski’s answer was a five to zero run which put them ahead 49:54 with 4.48 left in the quarter.  Cekovski scored a three for 52:55, and later
after that Harper tied the game at 55:55. Donald Cole  got the offensive rebound and scored so he could put his team ahead 57:55 and extend their run to 8:0. Slaveykov made it 59:55, making his team’s unanswered points 10, before Radojevic made two free-throws for 59:57. Martin Marinov made a buzzer-beater from long range to put his team ahead 59:60 after 30 minutes.
 
Levski started the last quarter better,  and after baskets by Cekovski and Lauderdale were up 64:62 with less than 8 minutes to the end. Marojevic  made a lay-up and Bogdan Boev scored a three from the corner to put Rileco ahead 64:67. Lilov extended his team’s run to seven unanswered points for 64:69. Rilski’s lead was 66:74 with less than 3 minutes to go. Cekovski decreased the difference to
68:74 with less than 2 minutes left.  Aaron Harper missed a wide-open three-pointer with 1.30 to go, but after that made two free-throws to make the difference just 4 points with 1.20 left. Zlatin Georgiev’s shot was blocked by Aleksandar Radojevic, and Levski fouled Ivan Lilov with 16.7 seconds left. The final score was 70:74, which sent Rileco to the final game for the second time in their history, which absolutely makes them the most successful team in the BIBL history, as they have reached the final two times now, and they won it back in 2009.
 
Rilski played extremely good on defense, shutting down Levski′s star  Aaron Harper to just 12 points, as he played the full 40 minutes. Gjorgi Cekovski was tjhe only Levski player who was feeling good on the court  today, as he scored 22 points.
 
Ivan Lilov led Rileco with 17, while Dimitar Karadjovski and Martin Marinov scored 11 each.
 
Rilski will face the winner from the other semifinal between KK Feni Industries and KK Mornar Bar which will start later today.