Bulgaria

[Il_Cinghiale]

Finalissima

CHERNO MORE IG - LUKOIL ACADEMIC 0-2

Gara 1 81-94

CHE:Plamen Aleksiev 2 - Deyan Ivanov 19 - Sasa Topchov 5 - Kaloyan Ivanov 11 - Rosen Sofroniev 5 - Asen Velikov 5 - Vladimir Marinov 4 - Bogdan Boev 14 - Dejan Stojanovic 16

LUK:Lamont Jones 21 - Riste Stefanov 32 - Simeon Naydenov 4 - Gjorgji Cekovski 5 - Georgi Davidov 10 - Ivan Lilov 2 - Chavdar Kostov 14 - Boyko Mladenov 6

Gara 2 74-85

LUK:Lamont Jones 34 - Riste Stefanov 11 - Simeon Naydenov 5 - Gjorgji Cekovski 9 - Georgi Davidov 14 - Chavdar Kostov 8 - Boyko Mladenov 4

CHE:Plamen Aleksiev 4 - Deyan Ivanov 8 - Sasa Topchov 12 - Kaloyan Ivanov 18 - Rosen Sofroniev 8 - Asen Velikov 8 - Vladimir Marinov 7 - Atanas Penev 4 - Dejan Stojanovic 5

3°-4° posto

YAMBOL - LEVSKI 0-2

Gara 1 86-88

Gara 2 69-71

[Il_Cinghiale]

Gara 3

Cherno More IG - Lukoil Academic 86 : 95

CHE: Deyan Ivanov 27 - Sasa Topchov 4 - Kaloyan Ivanov 18 - Veselin Georgiev 0 - Rosen Sofroniev 8 - Asen Velikov 10 - Vladimir Marinov 2 - Atanas Penev 2 - Bogdan Boev 9 - Dejan Stojanovic 6

LUK: Lamont Jones 36 - Lubomir Lilov 2 - Riste Stefanov 23 - Gjorgji Cekovski 1 - Georgi Davidov 14 - Chavdar Kostov 9 - Boyko Mladenov 10

Lukoil Academic Campione!

Total domination - May 19, 2006 - by Lubomir Neshev

Lukoil Academic's domination continues as the team won the title for fourth straigh time. This became a fact as the team swept the series against Cherno More IG beating them 95-86 in Varna.

Both teams started nervously and without scoring a lot of baskets. There were also a lot of fouls in the first quarter which turned out a problem for Lukoil Academic as Simeon Naydenov recorded 3 very quickly. The young players of Cherno More IG were determined to win this match and to prove themselves after two bad games in Pravets. They won the first quarter 18-15. In the second Lamont Jones who had only two made free throws in the first 10 minutes, took over and showed once again his great abilities. He scored 16 points to keep Lukoil in the game. However Cherno More IG were still leading the game thanks to twin brothers Deyan and Kaloyan Ivanovi who finished the first 20 minutes with 15 and 11 points respectively and thanks to their great rebounding in offense helping them to score a lot second chance points. The first half finished with 4 points advantage, 44-40, for the hosts.

Lukoil Academic opened great the third quarter and a triple by Lamont Jones captured an 8-0 run after only 1.26 minutes of play. Cherno More IG recovered from this bad start and stayed in the game. In the third minute of the quarter Boyko Mladenov made a lay up and was fouled by Sasha Topchov who fouled out. In the next attack for Cherno More IG Mladenov made a foul and then recorded a technical foul which was his fifth and he also had to sit on the bench. The game continued to be even for the next minutes and the third quarter finished with 2 points advantage for the hosts. In the last ten minutes Lamont Jones again was the leader for his team well helped by Riste Stefanov who scored very important shots. Little by little Lukoil Academic was increasing the advantage and with 1 minute to go it became clear who would be the winner of this year's championship.The visitors were leading by 8 points and despite the effort by the hosts they couldn't come back in the game. The incredible Lamont Jones was the top player on the court with 36 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.Riste Stefanov finished with 23 points. For Cherno More IG Deyan Ivanov had great game with 27 points and 17 rebounds.

So Lukoil Academic did it again and for fourth straight time they won the title and in the four years it was all the same - 3-0 in the final. Despite losing a lot of players this season and remaining with only 10 for the playoffs Lukoil were led by a phenomenal Lamont Jones who averaged 30 points per game in the finals and by great Riste Stefanov with 22 points per game. Boyko Mladenov, Gjiorgji Cekovski and Georgi Davidov also contritubed with their experience. The youngster Chavdar Kostov made a name for himself in this year's playoffs showing his great talant and incredible shooting skills. The brothers Lyubomir and Ivan Lilovi also played good despite their young age. Now with the season over the players will go resting and the board will go thinking about the plans for next year.