The basketball players of Balkan (Botevgrad) recorded their fourth consecutive victory in the regular season of the National Basketball League (NBL), after decisively beating the visiting team of CSKA with a convincing 94:65 (35:14, 17:19, 21:20, 21:12) in a match from the fourth round of the competition.
The match in the capital's "Arena Botevgrad" hall passed under the complete dictation of the hosts, who demonstrated championship self-confidence and high efficiency in attack from the first seconds of the match.
The graduates of the Balkan coaching staff started the match with incredible energy and dealt a heavy blow to the young team of the "reds" in the opening ten minutes. The hosts came out with an aggressive defense and lightning-fast counterattacks, which completely confused the plans of the capital.
After a strong series in attack, the result after the first quarter was eloquent – 35:14 in favor of Botevgrad, which provided a comfortable lead of 21 points and predetermined the further course of the match.
In the second and third quarters, the young CSKA team showed character and tried to get back into the match. In the middle of the third half, the "army men" mobilized their forces and managed to reduce their deficit to only nine points (57:48), inspiring hope for an intriguing turnaround. However, this turned out to be the strongest moment for the guests in the match. Their attempts were quickly cut short by the experience and long-standing class of the champions, who did not allow the difference to fall below single-digit limits for long.
In the final quarter, the hosts again picked up the pace, closed the spaces in the defensive line and with a series of successful shots formed the final score of 94:65.
For Balkan (Botevgrad), Alexander Stoimenov was above everyone in the match, who played a perfect match and scored the most points for his team – 19. His stable performance was supported by Gael Bonilla, who added 14 points, and the returning from injury Djavante McCoy contributed with valuable 12 points to the champions' total.
For CSKA, despite the heavy defeat, the young players of the "army" tried to resist with dignity. Martin Rusev played a strong game and was the most productive for the guests with 22 points. Center Nana Antwi-Boasiako distinguished himself with a nice double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds, fighting like a man on both courts.
With this success, Balkan continues its upward trend in the championship, establishing itself among the leading forces in the First League of Bulgarian basketball, while the young CSKA team continues to gain much-needed experience in the elite.