The Bulgarian U18 national basketball team lost 67-80 to Israel in the first game of EuroBasket. After 10 minutes of play at the Belgrade Arena 2, the Bulgarian player trailed 14-18, and at halftime they pulled away with a one-point lead over their opponent (30-29). In the final quarter, the two teams entered the game tied (50-50). The final half continued to look like a derby, but only in the first 5 minutes, after which the Bulgarians lost their rhythm and allowed their opponent to pull away with a large margin in the score and win the game.
Tomorrow, the Bulgarian U18 national basketball team faces Italy. Earlier today, the Italians defeated Germany.
In the first quarter, after a minute of play, Daniel Hinkov scored the first 2 points of the match, but quickly after that the Israelis took a 4-2 lead. Six and a half minutes before the end of the half the score was tied (6-6). The Bulgarians again took the lead at 9-8. After 6 minutes of play, the Israeli basketball players again took the lead by a point (11-10), and shortly after that the difference jumped to 8 points (18-10). However, the Bulgarians managed to reduce their deficit to 4 points (14-18) after 10 minutes of play.
After a little more than 2 minutes of play in the second quarter, Bulgaria was only 2 points behind (18-20). Shortly after, however, the lead again became 6 points in favor of Israel (24-18). Stoyo Cholakov’s boys continued to try to close the gap. 4 minutes before the break, Mihail Kalinov tied the score (24-24), and Ivaylo Skrinski gave Bulgaria a 2-point lead (26-24). It was tied again (26-26), but Kaloyan Kolev gave the Bulgaian a one-point lead (27-26). At the break, the two teams retired with a score of 30-29 in favor of the Bulgarian national team.
In the first minute of the third quarter, Israel turned the score in its favor (31-30), and then took a 2-point lead (34-32). It was tied again (34-34) after a basket by Daniel Hinkov. After 4 minutes of play, the Israelis led 42-39. The difference jumped to 5 points (44-39). The Bulgarians fell behind by 8 points, but managed to come back and cut their deficit to 2 (45-47), with less than 2 minutes left in the quarter. Daniel Hinkov tied the score (50-50) at the end of the half.
Israel again took the lead in the score (52-50) in the beginning of the last quarter. The two teams continued to play equally, and again came to a draw (56-56), but very quickly after that Bulgaria was already behind by 7 points (56-63), with about 6 minutes left in the game. The Israeli basketball players picked up the pace and with 4:42 minutes left until the final whistle, they were already leading by 10 points (68-58). Two minutes before the end, the difference was still 10 points (72-62) in favor of Israel. It even jumped to 13 points (75-62), and until the end of the match the Bulgarians were unable to achieve a turnaround.
Daniel Hinkov was the most productive for Bulgaria with 16 points, Ivaylo Skrinski scored 14 points, Kaloyan Kolev and Mihail Kalinov scored 9 points each.
