Kumanovo defeated Rilski Sportist to join them top in group A

KK Kumanovo 2009 is now tied for first place in group A of EUROHOLD Balkan League. The team hosted Rilski Sportist and in front of its fans won 89-82. This puts both teams at 3 wins and 1 defeat which secures them the top position for the moment. The game in Kumanovo was very interesting as the teams fought hard and didn′t give up for a second. The hosts built twice big leads but Rilski always came back before losing at the end. In the next round Kumanovo will host Peja while Rilski will travel to Montenegro to play first Sutjeska and then Teodo.
 
The visitors started better and after 7-0 run took a 6-point advantage. Kumanovo however reacted well and with better offense took the lead by the end of the first quarter. The beginning of the second quarter though was very good for the hosts and they managed to build a big lead. The made one run of 9-2 and then one of 8-2 which gave them a big advantage of 17 points. Rilski however fought back and cut the deficit to 9 but Aleksandar Kostoski scored a three-pointer from the center court with the buzzer to restore the double digit lead for the home team.
 
With 7-2 start of the second half the visitors managed to cut the deficit to 7 but Kumanovo immediatelly responded with 10-0 run to bring back the lead to 17. It stayed like that for a few minutes before Rilski once again fought back and after 15 unanswered points closed the gap to only 1. Marjan Janeski scored a triple to stop the run as the third quarter ended with 4 points in favour of Kumanovo and everything to play for in the last ten minutes.
 
The teams continued to play hard in the fourth quarter as well as two times Rilski was once came very close but Kostoski scored important three-pointers. With 2.26 to go Janeski drained another triple to put Kumanovo ahead by 7 and after Norfleet missed, Kostoski scored once again to decide the game with 91 seconds to play.
 
Aleksandar Kostoski was the top performer for the winners with 29 points and 6 assists while making five three-pointers. Sasa Avramovic also played very well with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists as Marjan Janeski scored important baskets to finish with 16 points.
 
Julian Norfleet played well for the visitors with 19 points and Tony Gugino added 20 and 5 rebounds.

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FULL STATS FROM THE GAME KK KUMANOVO 2009 - BC RILSKI SPORTIST