KK Kumanovo debuted with a close win, Kostoski is the hero for the team

KK Kumanovo 2009 made its debut in EUROHOLD Balkan League with a very close win. The team defeated KK Mornar 71-69 and had to fight very hard for the victory despite having big lead i the third quarter. Both teams had very good game and the atmosphere was amazing with 5000 people watching it which as this is a EUROHOLD BIBL record. The president of the local federation Mr. Daniel Dimevski also attended the game. Next week KK Mornar will host BC Galil Gilboa on October 24 while 7 days later KK Kumanovo will visit Galil.

The hosts had the lead from start to finished and they opened the game with 10-4 run. They continued to have an advantage in the next minutes and were up 17-13 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second both teams started exchanging three-pointers and KK Kumanovo kept the lead. For the visitors Andrej Pajovic and Miroslav Damjanovic were the players that were the main forces in the offense and kept their team in the game scoring 20 of its 28 points in the first half. The hosts though played good under the basket and at the break took a 9-point lead, 37-28.

Kumanovo started good the second half and built a 15-point advantage. Then the head coach of the visitors - Mihajlo Pavicevic took a time out that happenned to be the turning point. After it Mornar made a 15-0 run and tied the game with three minutes to play in the third quarter. The hosts finally responded and managed to take a 54-49 lead entering the decisive minutes of the match.

Both teams exchanged baskets in the fourth quarter and the game had to be decided in the final seconds. With 17 seconds to play the hosts had a 2-point lead but Marjan Mladenovic missed two times from the free throw line. That gave a chance to Mornar and the visitors took advantage of it by tying the score. Then it was the moment of Aleksandar Kostoski who took the ball and with 3.4 seconds to play scored the winning basket. In the next offense Pajovic couldn′t score and Kumanovo started celebrating the victory.

Top scorer for the winners was Ivica Dimcevski with 26 points adding also 9 rebounds. Double double had Uros Lukovic with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Kostoski scored 12 points. Lukovic also made an amazing 9 blocks.

For the visitors Andrej Pajovic was the top player with 14 points. Mihailo Sekulovic and Milos Djurisic added 12 points apiece.

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FULL STATS FROM KK KUMANOVO 2009 - KK MORNAR GAME
 
FULL SCHEDULE AND RESULTS FROM GROUP A OF EUROHOLD BALKAN LEAGUE
 
CURRENT STANDINGS IN GROUP A OF EUROHOLD BALKAN LEAGUE