Ironi Rain Nahariya wins fourth in a row thanks to a strong defense in Plovdiv

Ironi Rain Nahariya recorded its fourth win in a row in Group B of Delasport Balkan League. The Israeli team defeated BC Akademik Plovdiv 76-61 away to go to a 4-1 record. They played good defense, led from the second part of the first quarter until the end and withstood all the runs that the hosts had trying to get back in the game. Still it was a close affair until the final three minutes when the visitors pulled away for good and won its second match in Bulgaria. For Akademik it was the third defeat from 8 games but the team remains in a very good position to advance to Stage 2 and is almost certain of qualification. Next week the team from Plovdiv will host Sigal Prishtina on Wednesday, December 22nd, while Ironi's next game will be on January 19th at home against Ibar.

The teams started in a dynamic way early and exchanged baskets to have a tie score at 11 in the middle of the first quarter. Then in the span of two minutes the visitors scored 8 points in a row to pull away and managed to keep their advantage and be up by 9 after ten. Shortly after the second quarter started the hosts scored two triples to cut the deficit to just 6 and then 5 points but Ironi responded to once again go up by double-digits. The last two points in the half though were for Akademik and at the break the difference was 9 points.

A better start of the second half for the hosts helped them close the gap to just 4 points. The visitors though stepped up immediately and answered with a 14-2 run to go up by 16. Akademik howevec once again cut the deficit to 9 points as the team finished the third quarter on a 7-0 run. The hosts continued to fight in the fourth quarter as well and closed the gap to just 4 points before the middle of it. Then they even missed some shots to cut it even more and then Ironi went on a decisive 10-0 run which led them to victory.

The visitors held Akademik to just 35.7% shooting from the field, including 4 of 23 (17.4%) from the 3-point line. Both teams had a lot of turnovers - 23 apiece, so that also reflected on the low scoring.

Yogev Ohayon and Tomer Cohen were the top scorers for the winners finishing with 16 points apiece. Alexey Chubrevich also did well adding 11 and 7 rebounds.

The hosts were led by Nikolay Nikolov who had 14 points and 8 rebounds. Vasil Bachev added 13 points and 6 assists as Anthony Gugino had 12 points and 7 rebounds.

BOXSCORE