Hapoel Galil Elion defeats Akademik behind a strong first quarter

Hapoel Nufar Energy Galil Elion continues its fight for the first place in Group C of Delasport Balkan League. The Israeli side hosted Akademik Plovdiv and won 96-83 which took them to a 3-2 record. Next week Hapoel will host Sigal Prishtina which may turn out to be the decisive game for the first position but more will be know on Thursday evening after Sigal plays Levski. In the meantime last year’s runner-up Akademik finished the season as it was the team’s last game in Stage 2 and they ended with 1-5 record in the group.

Hapoel won tonight mainly thanks to a solid first quarter after which the team controlled the score. The hosts opened the game well and already in the middle of the period had their first double-digit lead at 16-6. In the next minutes they not only kept their advantage but increased it to 14 after ten minutes. At the break the lead was already 20 points so in the second half Hapoel managed to control it and didn’t allow any big runs by the visitors to win comfortably.

The biggest difference between the teams was the 3-point shooting as the hosts scored 13 from 30 attempts while Akademik was just 5 of 28.

Five players scored in double figures for the winners with Yuval Levin leading the way with 12. Three others had 11 points apiece – Karam Mashour, Itay Moskovits and Nimrod Levi.

The visitors were led by Nikolay Nikolov with 20 points and 5 rebounds as Daishon Knight had 15 points.

BOXSCORE