Chadvar Kostov stepped to the line and around him, excitement was hard to contain.
“We started celebrating, there were like 26 seconds left and our team captain was shooting a couple of free throws,” Kokomo native Alan Arnett recounted. “We were up eight or nine at that point. That’s when we knew we had it locked in.”
Arnett was suited up for Rilski Sportist as his squad clashed with Balkan in Game 4 of the best-of-five championship series of the National Basketball League. The NBL is Bulgaria’s top basketball division and Rilski had never won the league title before.
That changed a few game seconds after Kostov’s free throws when Rilski wrapped up an 81-69 road win to win the championship series 3-1.
“A couple of those guys have won over there a couple times, and for one of our local teammates, it was his first time winning a championship in Bulgaria. That was a moment for us,” said Arnett, a former Kokomo Wildkat and more recently a Kokomo BobKat. “Really, just being able to endure all the things that we went through this season, it was tough, so being able to celebrate that with our coaches — our coach was a rookie coach, it was his first year coaching — to go through all that and win it all was a blessing.”
At the end of the regular season, Rilski was second in the 12-team league standings. Rilski opened the playoffs with a two-game sweep in the quarterfinals, a tough five-game semifinal, and finally the victory in the championship. In the finals, Rilski won the first two games at home, lost Game 3 on the road, then clinched the title in Game 4 on the road.
“We ended up playing Balkan, which they were trying to three-peat,” Arnett said. “Just trying to overcome that was pretty tough. We had home-court advantage so the first two were in our arena, so that helped us out a lot.
“This was my first time in the finals. The atmosphere was crazy, probably some of the best games I’ve been a part of, especially playing at home. In both [home] games we kind of got off to a slow start and the atmosphere in the arena and our fans kept us in it. Those first two victories at home were very important to us.”
Arnett’s route to the championship didn’t go as he would have planned it out, but it finished ideally. He started the season with Levski in the capital of Sofia. It was his second season with Levski and he helped that squad to a trophy early in the campaign when Levski won the Supercup — a competition between the reigning Bulgarian Cup winners, Levski, and the reigning playoff champion.
His season at Levski was going well but the team hit a snag.
“Me and my teammate John [Florveus] played in Levski for two years, so around November, we kind of got word, since we had the same agent, that our team Levski, they lost their sponsor so there was a chance they weren’t going to be able to pay us for the whole season,” Arnett said. “So they put us on the market, so if we found another team they were going to allow us to leave. Once Rilski got ahold of that information, they were like, ‘Hey, we want both of you guys.’”
That makes it look simple when distilled to a few sentences, but the adjustments after changing squads were much more involved. Arnett and Florveus played their last game for Levski Sofia on Dec. 16, 2023. Seven days later they were on the court for Rilski, located in the city of Samokov. Arnett moved to the small city — about half the size of Kokomo — an hour away from the capital. Everything had changed.
“To be honest, it was really an adjustment for me,” Arnett said. “I was the main option up there at Levski, so going over there [to Rilski], I’m going into a new system. I knew I wasn’t going to be that main option. I didn’t start at first. I had a couple starts toward the end of the season and then [coach Lubomir Kirov] finally started me the second game of the semifinals or maybe the third game of the semifinals. That’s when I finally had my groove and he let me be me.
“It was definitely an adjustment, and it wasn’t a bad thing. It was just good to know I had those options — we had other people that can score. It may not be your night every night. We had like six, seven guys in double figures.”
Rilski’s interest in Arnett and teammate Florveus paid off with the franchise’s first championship. They joined a veteran squad that Arnett said rode experience and strong defense to the title. Balance was another benefit. Seven players averaged between 12.7 and 8.9 points per game.
“Oh man, to be a part of history was crazy,” Arnett said. “And the [team] president, he brought me over, him and the coach brought me and [Florveus] over from Levski. We kind of talked about winning a championship, that was our goal. Being the first one for that team — history, we’ll always be talked about. The president was very happy with the results.”
The championship led to a celebration when the team returned to Samokov.
“Like I said, it was the first one. Everybody was excited. We celebrated that night and we had a parade the next couple days and the whole city came out pretty much and congratulated us,” Arnett said. “We met the mayor of the city of Samokov. The [national] minister of sports was there as well.”
Florveus and Arnett picked up their third trophy in a year and a half, having won the Cup and Supercup with Levski in 2023. Arnett had an additional honor to celebrate: He had been named MVP of the finals after averaging 14.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals while shooting 52% in the series.
His future is uncertain. Arnett could sign a new deal with Rilski and stay another campaign, or accept a better offer elsewhere if it presents itself. But right now, that’s not a worry. He’s got a title and some time off to enjoy with his family back in Kokomo.
And he feels better for having been through the experience and flourished with his new team.
“Any time you get this deep, I think you learn a lot about the game and about yourself as well. There were times, especially that semifinals game — we went to Game 5 and my anxiety was through the roof,” Arnett said. In air-tight games or winner-take-all games, Arnett said he can’t avoid questioning every play, every on-court decision that doesn’t work out. “I think you learn a lot about yourself and gain a lot of experience about the game.”
