15.08.2012

Bulgaria Topple Sweden

Bulgaria held off Sweden down the stretch to open their EuroBasket Qualification Round campaign with a 78-73 victory.

In a game that was close throughout, Sweden used a 6-1 run to get within three points 40 seconds from time, but could not get over the hump despite late missed free throws from Bulgaria.

Chavdar Kostov led six Bulgaria players scoring in double figures

It was a close game throughout, with Bulgaria's biggest lead, a 39-29 advantage given to them by back-to-back threes from Chavdar Kostov, lasting just a few seconds before Sweden replied with six straight to get back within range.

Bulgaria began to pull away again in the fourth quarter, going 73-65 clear on Filip Videnov's three-pointer with 2:59 to go.

But Sweden were not done. Kenny Grant hit a pair of free throws to start a 6-1 run that made it 74-71 when Thomas Massamba split his free throws with 40 ticks left.

Cedric Simmons then nailed a jump-shot for Bulgaria to give them a five-point edge and they should have put the game away from the line.

But Hristo Nikolov missed both his shots before Bozhidar Avramov likewise came up empty.

They got a huge break when Grant missed his three-pointer and Nikolov went back to the line, this time making his shots to make it 78-71 inside the final 10 seconds.

Kostov led Bulgaria with 13 points while Simmons had 12 and Nikolov, Videnov and Nikolay Varbanov 11 each, Nikolov adding 10 rebounds.

Jonas Jerebko had 26 for Sweden with Christian Maraker scoring 15.

15.08.2012

Quotes Bulgaria vs. Sweden

Kenny Grant, Sweden:
"I think we didn't make a lot of mistakes. The Bulgarians won a lot of rebounds. We tried till the end, we fought and never gave up, and this is good. But we have to play better if we want to qualify to the EuroBasket finals."

Dean Bradley, head-coach of Sweden:
"We played well. After the first minutes Bulgaria took the lead, but we pushed and several times got close. I think [Philip] Videnov decided the game. Every time we were close, he came in and made great shots, especially in the third and the final quarter. He is very experienced and a good shooter, that was his job and he did it. I think Germany are the favourites in this group, and it will be Sweden, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan fighting for the second place. We will have a chance if we win with more than 5 points [against Bulgaria] at home.

Rossen Barchovski, head-coach of Bulgaria:
"This is like a war with eight different fights, we won the first one but still have a long way to go. There is no time for joy, but it was good that we won. We could have had a bigger points difference, but we missed the free throws at the end when we were really under pressure. I hope we won't be sorry for this. We have some things to improve. I congratulate my players, they are a really young team and they needed this win. I hope they will be more calm in the next games."

Philip Videnov, Bulgaria:
"I know that we have a lot more to show in our next games; especially in offense. We played good defense, but this is the way we should play in all the games."