Kavala defeated Rilski Sportist in a thrilling game

BC Kavala won its first ever game in a European competition. The team managed to defeat BC Rilski Sportist at home by just two points - 81-79, in the debut game for the squad in EUROHOLD Balkan League. The match was thrilling from start to finish and the winner was decided in the last seconds. In the next round of group B BC Kavala will host OKK Beograd while Rilski will play away against Kozuv. Both games are on 24th of October.
Both teams exchanged baskets at the start of the game and BC Kavala was the first to pull away. The home side used a 7-0 run to take a 6-point lead but Rilski answered quickly. The visitors cut the deficit to 2 points and from then on until the end of the quarter the game was even and BC Kavala had a 22-19 lead after ten minutesl.
Shortly after the start of the second quarter the hosts once again pulled away and took a 6-point lead. However Rilski once again answered back and soon it was a tie game. The teams exchanged baskets and the one who managed to take a good lead was BC Kavala. Just before the break the hosts scored 5 points in less than 10 second and took their first double digit lead of the game. Moments later Terry Smith scored two free throws for the visitors and at the end of the first half BC Kavala had a 42-34 lead.
Rilski scored the first 4 points in the second half and managed to cut the deficit. Then Kavala responded with a nice 9-1 run that took the hosts lead to 12 points for first time in the game at 51-39. The both teams scored but near the end of the quarter the visitors made a run and came back in to the match. A quick break dunk by Hristo Zahariev cut the deficit to 4 points and at the end of the quarter Kavala was up 57-53.
Stanislav Vaklinov scored the first basket in the fourth quarter to bring Rilski down to 2 points but Kavala responded with 6-0 run and took an 8-point lead. The hosts were hanging to their advantage in the next minutes and were in control of the game. Rilski managed to come as close as 5 points a few times but Kavala always responded. However the visitors didn′t give up and after 8 straight points by Terri Smith managed to tie the game with 01.08 minutes to play. In the next offense Kavala finally stopped the run and took the lead by 2 points with 49.5 second remaining. Then Smith missed his shot and after Manolopoulos was whistled fo an offensive foul. That left Rilski with 13.7 seconds for attack and Hristo Zahariev was fouled. He scored both free throws and tied the game leaving Kavala with 11.1 seconds for offense. The visitors fouled Christofor Stefanidis and the most experienced player of the home side put his team ahead by 2 points after converting both teams from the line with 8.8 seconds to go. In the last offense Lubomir Kirov tried a three-pointer but missed and Kavala won this interesting game.
Jeremy Fears was the top scorer for the home team with 20 points as James Nunnally and Nemanja Mitrovic added 11 apiece.
For the visitors very good game had Terry Smith who finished with 31 points. Braxton Dupree had double double with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Hristo Zahariev added 13 points.