The chance of Bulgaria playing in a second consecutive European basketball championship is already bordering on zero.
The home selection lost 86:90 to Montenegro in Botevgrad in the 4th match of Group D of the qualifiers for next year’s continental forum.
For ours, who were without our big stars Alexander Vezenkov and Cody Miller-McIntyre, it was the second defeat against the same opponent within 3 days. On Friday, Rosen Barchovski’s players lost 62:85 in Podgorica.
Thus, the native selection remains in last place in the group with an asset of 1 win and 3 losses. Montenegrins have 3 successes and 1 defeat. Our remaining opponents in the group are world champions Germany and Sweden. The top 3 from each stream qualify for EuroBasket 2025. And after the two losses to Montenegro, qualifying for the finals is almost impossible.
3 minutes before the end of the third quarter Bulgaria had a lead of 12 points. But by the end of the half, we allowed the gap to drop to a point. Already at the beginning of the final quarter, the Montenegrins took the initiative and did not allow a turn.
However, the biggest credit for the defeat of Rosen Barchovski’s team was not the stars of Montenegro, but the referees. The duo of Lorenzo Baldini from Italy and Georgios Pausanidis (Greece) absolutely unceremoniously gave every controversial judgment for the opponent. And this had an impact on the final result. Montenegro players shot as many as 25 times from the penalty line. And ours is only 16.
Otherwise, the naturalized American Kendrick Perry was the top scorer for Montenegro. The American-born basketball player finished with 31 points.
Captain Pavlin Ivanov finished with the most for Bulgaria – 26.
In February next year, the last matches for our team will be with Germany as a guest and in Botevgrad against Sweden.