TFT leads from the start to finish but leaves it late to defeat Sigal Prishtina

KK TFT won its first game of the new season. In a Group B contest the Skopje team hosted KB Sigal Prishtina and took 81-77 victory after leading from the start. The visitors took the lead just once in the whole game but were always close and TFT had to fight hard in the final seconds to hold on. Next week in Skopje the home side will meet Akademik Plovdiv while Sigal, now with two defeats from two games, will play against Beroe at home on Monday.

After an even start, it was the home team that managed to pull away. They did so with a small run to go up by 7 and then thanks to 5 straight points the lead reached 10. After the end of the first quarter they led by 9 but in the second Sigal managed to start playing better and came closer. A quick 7-0 run brought the hosts back to just 2 points and before the middle of the period, they even took their first lead. TFT answered to restore the advantage but until the end of the half both sides exchanged baskets and the break came with the score tied at 38.

TFT managed to again pull away after the middle of the third quarter. Until then the teams stayed close but the hosts made a 12-3 run to go up by 10 points for a second time in the game. Sigal though didn't give up and answered with 6 straight points to close the gap to just 4 after 30 minutes.

With 3.30 played in the fourth, the visitors managed to again tie the score. Then the hosts went on a 9-0 run to take a good advantage but Sigal again came back. The visitors answered with two straight triples and thenNikolov made an important putback for the home side. With 32 second to go Zeqiri added another triple to cut the deficit to just 2 but Horton answered right back. The visitors managed to again close the gap to just 2 but there was no time for more as Kostoski sealed off the win from the free throw line.

Landrius Horton was the top scorer for the winners with 20 points while also adding 6 rebounds. Viktor Tashovski also did well by adding 16 points as Strahil Nikolov had 12 and 6 rebounds.

The visitors were led by Dachon Burke who score 18 points and dished out 4 assists. The only other player in double-digits was Jetmir Zeqiri who had 11 points.

BOXSCORE