BRATISLAVA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Slovak Basketball League leaders the Levice Patriots had been forced to take a break due to COVID-19 troubles, but managed to return in style with an easy win over bottom side BC Prievidza 89-65 on Saturday, extending their winning streak to 11 games.
Despite occupying the bottom rank since the beginning of the current SBL season, Prievidza managed to keep up with the Patriots, but only until the third period. Levice built a double-digit lead early in the third period and cruised to a comfortable victory in the end.
Prievidza's Serbian guard Goran Vukicevic led the scoring department with 24 points, but it wasn't enough to force a better result and increase his team's chances of reaching the playoffs.
BKM Lucenec has been struggling against the top teams this season and wanted to change that in Komarno, but the home team refused to budge and an attractive match was almost tied at halftime. In the third period, Komarno managed to build a small lead and held onto it in the final chapter, achieving a 95-84 victory.
Elsewhere, things were not looking good for MBK Banik Handlova, who trailed the Spis Knights by 10 points at halftime. However, the home team managed to rally in the third period, outscoring the Knights 34-18, and retained the upper hand in the decisive moments of the final outing, taking a 90-84 victory.
Inter Bratislava had a promising start in Svit despite playing without key point guard Ivan Gandia-Rosa who had been injured in the previous match, but began to lose grip in the second period and allowed the home team to take over in the second half, resulting in an 82-72 loss. ■
