Strong first quarter is enough for Ironi Rain Nahariya to hold off Ibar

Ironi Rain Nahariya is back on the winning way after beating KK Ibar 69-57 at home. The Israeli side lost to Sigal Prishtina two weeks ago but now moved back to first place after leading from start to finish. It was thanks to a very good first quarter that the hosts managed to pull away and eventually they led until the end. That puts them on a 7-2 record and next Tuesday will host Sigal Prishtina in a match that will decide the first place in Group B. As for Ibar the season finished here as the team will finish sixth in the group with 3 wins and 7 defeats.

Ibar scored the first points of the game but then the hosts responded with an 8-0 run. The visitors then had 4 points in a row but it was the last time they hit something in the first quarter. Until the end of it Ironi made a 13-0 run and took a 15-point advantage. In the second quarter the home side controlled the difference and were doing well to keep the distance from their opponent. At the break the lead was 18 points but in the third quarter the visitors fought back and closed the gap. For ten minutes they managed to score much more compared to what they did for the whole first half (28 to 20) and that helped them cut the deficit to just 11 points before the last quarter. As the hosts struggled to score early in it, Ibar came closer as the difference got to 7 points. The visitors however missed their chances to cut the deficit even more and Ironi held on at the end.

Stephaun Branch was the top scorer for the winners with 15 points as he also added 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Dustin Thomas also did well with 13 points and 6 rebounds while Yonatan Atias had 8 points.

The visitors were led by Nedim Felec who had a game-high 16 points. Nemanja Simovic had 12 points and 7 rebounds as Nikola Pavlovic added 9 and 10.

BOXSCORE