Balkan had the chance to secure their first win in Group D of the EuroCup tournament, but they fell short once again. This evening, in a low-scoring contest at Arena Botevgrad, they were defeated by the Lithuanian side Lietkabelis, 57–64 (10–13, 15–20, 20–16, 12–15).
Balkan started well; past the midway point of the first quarter, they took a one-point lead on two occasions—8–7 and 10–9—but ended the period trailing 10–13. By the 15th minute, the visiting Lithuanian team had built a double-digit lead (15–26), following a series of errant passes by Balkan’s players. With two minutes left in the half, the score stood at 18–20, and by halftime, it was 25–34.
After the break, Balkan improved their performance. Four minutes into the third quarter, they leveled the score at 35–35, and two minutes before the end of the period, they took the lead at 43–42. However, the momentum shifted back; despite winning the quarter 20–16, Balkan entered the final frame trailing 49–45.
Early in the final quarter, Lietkabelis pulled away again, establishing a double-digit lead—59–49—with five minutes remaining. Balkan managed to narrow the gap to five points (57–62) with one minute and 40 seconds left on the clock. However, they were unable to complete a comeback and ultimately lost 57–64.
Mexican player Gael Bonilla returned to the court for Balkan following an injury, but guards Javante McCoy and Carnell Edge did not play. Consequently, Balkan was left with only one true point guard—Konstantin Toshkov. Aleksandar Stoimenov was once again Balkan’s top scorer with 17 points. Kosyo Toshkov contributed 10 points, while Gael Bonilla scored 9 and grabbed 8 rebounds. Pavlin Ivanov added 8 points; Ulrich Chomche recorded 7 points and 10 rebounds; Nikolay Grozev scored 4; and Alex Ducas added 2.
For Lietkabelis—coached by former Lukoil Academic player Nenad Čanak—Frenchman Ivan Février scored 17 points, Swiss player Alex Schumacher added 11, and both Kennedy and Daniel Baslyk contributed 10 points each.
