KB Trepça wins title after 12 years

After 12 years of waiting, KB Trepça has won the Kosovo basketball title. 

Trepça defeated Golden Eagle Ylli in the fifth final game of the Kosovo basketball elite league playoffs.

Trepça won 67:66 on Thursday evening at the “Minatori” sports hall in Mitrovica, which was packed with spectators. 

For the “miners” it is the fifth title in the club’s history, while Golden Eagle Ylli remains with the two titles won in 2021 and 2022. 

Just like the previous four matchups, Thursday evening’s game was also dramatic and was decided right at the end. With one minute left in the game, Darnell Edge scored a three-pointer to make it 65:60. 

Edge then made two free throws for 67:60. 

Alonzo Verge Jr. scored two three-pointers afterward for Ylli, but they were not enough to avoid a one-point defeat and the loss of the title. 

The Suhareka team started the matchup well, winning the first quarter 16:10. 

The Mitrovica team rallied in the second ten-minute period and won 20:14, while the teams went into the break tied at 30:30. 

Ylli also won the third period 11:7, but the decisive quarter was the last one, in which Trepça won 30:25. 

The best player in the hosts’ triumph was Edge, who finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds and six assists. 

Brandon Edwards contributed 15 points and three rebounds, while Kevin Bracy-Davis finished the game with 13 points, five rebounds and one assist. 

Verge Jr. was once again Ylli’s standout player with 28 points, four rebounds and eight assists. 

But even Jalen Nesbitt’s good performance did not help the Suhareka team; he had 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists. 

Trepça has won titles in 1993, 2000, 2001, 2012 and in the current season, 2023/2024. 

This season, it has also won the Kosovo Cup, the Supercup and the Unike League.