BOTEVGRAD (Bulgaria) - Aleksandar Vezenkov showed why he is one of the greatest players on the continent with an otherworldly performance with 40 points to keep Bulgaria alive in the race for the FIBA EuroBasket 2025.
The power forward connected on 13 of 25 shots - including 6 of 14 three-pointers - and hit all eight of his free throws for 40 points in Bulgaria's 81-77 overtime victory over Sweden in Group D of the EuroBasket Qualifiers - also scoring two baskets in the final 21 seconds of overtime to ice the victory.
Vezenkov added 18 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals for an efficiency of 49, with his 40 points the second most of the 2025 Qualifiers behind the 43 points tallied by North Macedonia's Nenad Dimitrijevic and Germany's David Kramer against Lithuania and Sweden, respectively. And his 18 rebounds were the most for any player in the Qualifiers.
Top scoring performances in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers:
# | Name | Country | Points | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Nenad Dimitrijevic | North Macedonia | 43 | Lithuania - November 24, 2024 |
= | David Kramer | Germany | 43 | Sweden - November 22, 2024 |
3. | Aleksandar Vezenkov | Bulgaria | 40 | Sweden - February 20, 2025 |
4. | Cedi Osman | Türkiye | 33 | Hungary - November 25, 2024 |
5. | Nenad Dimitrijevic | North Macedonia | 32 | Poland - February 26, 2024 |
Vezenkov registered the highest efficiency in the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers, as his 49 surpassed Kramer's mark of 41 which also came against Sweden.
Top Efficiency ratings in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers:
# | Name | Country | Efficiency | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Aleksandar Vezenkov | Bulgaria | 49 | Sweden - February 20, 2025 |
2. | David Kramer | Germany | 41 | Sweden - November 22, 2024 |
3. | Nenad Dimitrijevic | North Macedonia | 40 | Lithuania -November 24, 2024 |
4. | Cedi Osman | Türkiye | 36 | Hungary - November 25, 2024 |
5. | Kamar Baldwin | Georgia | 34 | Finland - November 24, 2024 |
= | Luka Bozic | Croatia | 34 | Bosnia and Herzegovina - November 21, 2024 |
= | Roko Prkacin | Croatia | 34 | Cyprus - February 26, 2024 |
With Bulgaria knowing they needed a victory to stay in the race, Vezenkov started the game on fire with 14 points in the first quarter. He had 2 points in the second quarter and followed that with 15 more in the third quarter.
Vezenkov was limited to 3 points in the fourth quarter, but then picked up 6 points in overtime to lock up the win.
Bulgaria are now 2-3 in Group D going into their final game of the Qualifiers on the road against World champions Germany.
Vezenkov after the game talked about the disappointment of not being able to make up for Bulgaria's 14-point loss to Sweden in the first window. Bulgaria fought back from an 8-point deficit in the third quarter to lead by nine points in the fourth. Sweden rallied and had a chance to win in the closing seconds of regulation.
"Fourteen points was really tough. But I am proud of these guys. The third quarter was magnificent and we got close, but we couldn't do it," said Vezenkov.
Bulgaria next face Germany and Vezenkov knows the challenge will be a major one against the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 champions.
"It's really tough. They have really good players. They have seven guys from the World Cup team. Nothing is impossible but it will be really really tough," he said.
FIBA