KB Sigal Prishtina made a very big step towards going to a second straight final in the Balkan League. The current champions of the competition defeated BC Beroe 89-75 away and are with one leg in the big final. Now Beroe will need a miracle in Prishtina next week in order to reach the battle for the trophy, Sigal led for most of the time but the difference was increased mainly in the last two quarters when the visitors used their experience and dominance under the basket.
It was a very good start for the visitors and Jason Washburn who scored 9 of his team′s first 11 points. Beroe cut the deficit to 3 but Sigal answered with two straight triples. In the next few minutes the team from Prishtina was up by Beroe ended the quarter on an 8-2 run to close the gap to only 2. Beroe′s good performance continued at the start of the second as well as the team started with 10-2 run go to up by 6 points. Quickly though the visitors scored 6 in a row to tie the score but Beroe went up again, this time by 3. Then Sigal made a 10-0 run go take a 7-point advantage as Ashton Moore answered with a triple and the difference at the break was 4 points.
Sigal Prishtina kept leading in the second half as the advantage went up to 9 in the middle of the third quarter. Until the end of it both teams exchanged baskets and after Abukar scored at the buzzer the diffence again was 9 ponits. Beroe scored the first point in the last period but then Sigal added the next 7 to take a lead of 15. Later it reached 19 points but the hosts managed to cut some of it. They responded with 8-0 run but Berisha scored a triple with five seconds to go to fix the final margin.
Mohamed Abukar had 26 points, Jason Washburn added 25 as both of them had 13 rebounds apiece in dominating performance under the basket. Willie Kemp had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists as five players scored in double figures for the winners. Very good game for the home side had Aleksandar Todorovic who finished with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals while Ashton Moore added 16 points.
It should be noted that a few days ago in the semifinals game between Kozuv and Mornar, the victory belonged to the team from Gevgelija Macedonia 86:71.
The return games will take place next week in Prishtina and Tivar.
Beroe - Sigal Prishtina 75:89 (23:25, 18:20, 19:24, 15:20)
"Obshtinska" sports hall, in Stara Zagora
Spectators: 500
Referees: A. Zurapoviq, Z. Mitrovski, H. Bijediq.
Beroe: Moore 16, Gary 10, Zhelec 8, Barnes 5, Galabov 2, Vaklinov 10, Todoroviq 19, Aleksiev 3, Radnev 2, Nikolov, Tanchev.
Sigal Prishtina: Washburn 25, Abukar 26, Kemp 12, Berisha 10, Marinov 6, Warren 10, Azemi, Peci, Sinani, Jakupi.