Impressive defense leads Balkan past Ironi Rain Nahariya

BC Balkan recorded an impressive win in its first game of Stage 2 in Delasport Balkan League. The Botevgrad team hosted the leaders in Group D Ironi Rain Nahariya and took 87-73 victory to stay in the battle for first place. It was thanks to an impressive start to the second half and then a very good finish that Balkan managed to take the win and to do it with such a difference. The home side controlled the game despite losing Stanimir Marinov to injury but the defensive performance  from the second quarter onwards really stood out. In its next game Balkan will visit TFT on March 17 while Ironi will host Maccabi Next Urban Haifa on March 22.

The visitors had a slightly better start but Balkan quickly responded to take the lead. It didn’t last long as Ironi pulled away thanks to a 7-0 run which broke a tie game. They even managed to increase It even further and had a 9-point advantage after ten minutes. In the second quarter the hosts started playing better and the gap was closing. Already in the middle of it the home side managed to cut it to just 2 and stayed close to their opponent. Shortly before the first half finished Balkan even took the lead and was up by 1 after 20 minutes.

A 15-4 start to the second half gave the hosts a big lead of 12-points with 4 minutes played. The run continued as in the middle of the quarter the difference reached 15 as the run was 20-6. After that the hosts stayed in front and kept their double-digit advantage. Ironi however didn't stop trying and cut the deficit to just 5 points with 1:30 to play. Immediately though DeVaughn Washington hit a triple to stop the opponent's dreams of a comeback and then in the final minutes he hit two more to set up the final score.

Ahmaad Rorie was the top performer for the winners finishing with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Christian Jones and DeVaughn Washington also did well as they had 15 points apiece with Jones also grabbing 11 rebounds for a double-double.

The visitors were led by Stephaun Branch who had 19 points and 8 rebounds. Alexey Chubrevich had 15 and 7 while Yogev Ohayon had a double-double with 10 points and 11 assists.