BRATISLAVA, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Komarno's struggle in the Slovak premier basketball league continues as the team from the south of the country suffered its greatest defeat of the season, the fourth straight, losing the match in Svit 126-68 on Wednesday.
The team is plagued by injuries, lack of financing and even decided to let go of its coach Aleksandar Vrzina before the match.
Komarno's coaching duties were assumed by the Serbian point guard Nenad Milosevic but there was little he could do against Svit's offense having a field day - seven players scored at least 15 points, led by the American Isaiah Johnson's triple-double for 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 17 assists.
Zilina is also spiraling down. After a great start into the season occupying the second spot in the rankings, Zilina fell to sixth place after five defeats in a row, the most recent one coming on Wednesday in Prievidza by 77-92.
The visitors were out of pace since early on, losing the first period by 11 points. Prievidza was keeping its three-point game strong, sinking an impressive total of 14 attempts.
Zilina's defense was plagued mainly by the home team's Serbian duo Zlatko Jovanovic and Nikola Gacesa, scoring a total of 50 points.
Elsewhere, the third-placed Lucenec, started well in Spisska Nova Ves, going into the locker rooms with a rather comfortable 11 point lead at halftime. But the squad of coach Peter Jankovic allowed the lead to gradually dwindle in the second half.
A hectic final stretch was the result and to top it all of, the home team won by a single point in the end. Interestingly enough, the first match-up of these two teams in the current season ended also by a one-point margin but the players from Lucenec were the lucky ones at that time.
The American Eric Nottage led Spisska Nova Ves' scoring with 22 points.
In their first battle of the current season, Handlova served Bratislava its first defeat in October. Naturally, the team from the traditional Slovak mining town longed for another upset of the league's leaders but Bratislava learned its lesson and didn't allow history to repeat itself.
The team from the capital city dominated especially in the second period and built up a comfortable 12-point lead at halftime by sinking shots from medium and long distances.
Bratislava's American guard Kenney Funderburk led the visitors to their 10th victory out of 12 matches, strengthening the top position in the rankings.
