Superleague Round 25: Leader Gorgan gets another victory

There are only two more rounds left in the Regular Season in Superleague. Here is the last round review presented by Job Market.

Leader Gorgan delivered the eleventh win on Sunday night. This time they crushed 7th ranked Naft Abadan (3-10) 91-66. Gorgan dominated down low during the game scoring 62 of its points in the paint compared to Naft Abadan's 30. Gorgan forced 23 Naft Abadan turnovers. They looked well-organized offensively handing out 24 assists comparing to just 9 passes made by Naft Abadan's players. International Mohammad Jamshidi (199-91, agency: BIG) fired 15 points and 7 assists for the winners. American-Guinea-Bissau point guard Perry Petty (185-88, college: UTRGV) chipped in 12 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. The former international guard Ehsan Dalirzahan (186-0) produced 24 points for lost side. The winner was already known earlier in the game, so both coaches allowed to play the bench players saving starting five for next games. Gorgan (11-1) have an impressive series of ten victories in a row. Defending champion maintains first place. Naft Abadan lost fourth consecutive game. They keep the seventh position with ten games lost. They share it with Exxon SC. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest.
Bottom-ranked Niroo Zamini (0-14) tried to put together a comeback for its first victory of the season, but they fell short in the 105-93 loss to fourth ranked Sirjan (9-5) in Sirjan. Worth to mention a great performance of Montenegrin-Serbian forward Nikola Dragovic (206-87, college: UCLA, agency: BeoBasket) who helped to win the game recording 34 points (!!!) and 8 rebounds. Anton Ponkrashov contributed with 22 points and 10 assists for the winners. Guard Pouya Yakhchali (-96) answered with 37 points (!!!) and 9 assists (made all of his seven free throws) for Niroo Zamini. Both coaches used bench players which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games. Sirjan moved-up to third place, which they share with Kerman. Niroo Zamini lost their fourteenth game in a row. They still close the standings with 14 games lost. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest.
The game with biggest result difference took place in Kerman. Local Kerman (9-5) outscored 6th ranked Khouzestan (3-7) 94-55 on Saturday night. Asghar Kardoust stepped up with a double-double by scoring 19 points and 11 rebounds (on 7-of-9 shooting from the field) for the winners. At the losing side Mostafa Abdolvand responded with a double-double by scoring 15 points and 11 rebounds. Since the result was very predictable, it gave the chance for the coaches to test many bench players and allowed the starting five to rest. Kerman maintains third place with 9-5 record despite having the same number of points like the leader Chemidor, which they share with Sirjan. Khouzestan at the other side keeps the sixth position with seven games lost. Kerman will have a break next round, and it should allow them to practice more before next game. Khouzestan will play against the league's second-placed Zob Ahan (#2) in Esfahan and hope to secure a win.

In the last game of round 25 Kouchin was defeated by Zob Ahan in Esfahan 88-82.

Kerman - Khouzestan 94-55

The game with biggest result difference took place in Kerman. Local Kerman (9-5) outscored 6th ranked Khouzestan (3-7) 94-55 on Saturday night. Kerman dominated down low during the game scoring 56 of its points in the paint compared to Khouzestan's 20. They outrebounded Khouzestan 50-38 including a 34-20 advantage in defensive rebounds. The former international center Asghar Kardoust (212-86, agency: BIG) stepped up with a double-double by scoring 19 points and 11 rebounds (on 7-of-9 shooting from the field) for the winners and Kiumars Romianizadeh chipped in 15 points and 8 rebounds. Four Kerman players scored in double figures. At the losing side Mostafa Abdolvand responded with a double-double by scoring 15 points and 11 rebounds and Arash Sabeti scored 16 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Since the result was very predictable, it gave the chance for the coaches to test many bench players and allowed the starting five to rest. Kerman maintains third place with 9-5 record despite having the same number of points like the leader Chemidor, which they share with Sirjan. Khouzestan at the other side keeps the sixth position with seven games lost. Kerman will have a break next round, and it should allow them to practice more before next game. Khouzestan will play against the league's second-placed Zob Ahan (#2) in Esfahan and hope to secure a win.
Top scorers:
Kerman: A.Kardoust 19+11reb, R.Kiumars 15+8reb+1ast, M.Saleh 11+2reb+1ast, S.Igor 10+5reb+2ast, I.Williams 10+4reb+5ast, S.Torabikhah 8+1reb
Khouzestan: A.Sabeti 16+6reb+5ast, A.Mostafa 15+11reb+1ast, P.Behnam 8+2reb, G.Abolfazl 7+3reb+2ast, S.Aali Reza 4+3reb+1ast, N.Shahrokh 3+1reb

Zob Ahan - Kouchin 88-82

There was no surprise in Esfahan where 5th ranked Kouchin (7-5) was defeated by third ranked Zob Ahan (9-3) 88-82 on Saturday. Zob Ahan outrebounded Kouchin 48-36 including 18 on the offensive glass. They looked well-organized offensively handing out 23 assists. The former international Arman Zangeneh (202-93, agency: BIG) stepped up with a double-double by scoring 28 points and 13 rebounds for the winners and the former international Arsalan Kazemi (200-90, college: Oregon, agency: BIG) chipped in 18 points and 19 rebounds. At the losing side the former international Matin Aghajanpour (199-1, agency: Domantay Sports) responded with 22 points and 4 assists and international Amirhossein Yazarloo (196-2, agency: Domantay Sports) produced a double-double by scoring 11 points and 13 rebounds. Four Kouchin players scored in double figures. The victory was the fifth consecutive win for Zob Ahan. They moved-up to second place. Loser Kouchin keeps the fifth position with five games lost. Zob Ahan will meet at home Khouzestan (#6) in the next round. Kouchin will have a break next round.
Top scorers:
Zob Ahan: A.Zangeneh 28+13reb+2ast, S.Mashayekhi 20+6reb+5ast, A.Kazemi 18+19reb+3ast, A.Khalilnejad 7, F.Aslani 6+3reb+9ast, A.Mortazavi 6+5reb+3ast
Kouchin: A.Matin 22+4reb+4ast, M.McCall 18+2reb+5ast, A.Jalal 14+9reb+3ast, Y.Amirhossein 11+13reb+3ast, L.Mohammadmahdi 6, M.Jafari 5+2reb

Naft Abadan - Gorgan 66-91

Leader Gorgan delivered the eleventh win on Sunday night. This time they crushed 7th ranked Naft Abadan (3-10) 91-66. Gorgan dominated down low during the game scoring 62 of its points in the paint compared to Naft Abadan's 30. Gorgan forced 23 Naft Abadan turnovers. They looked well-organized offensively handing out 24 assists comparing to just 9 passes made by Naft Abadan's players. International Mohammad Jamshidi (199-91, agency: BIG) fired 15 points and 7 assists for the winners. American-Guinea-Bissau point guard Perry Petty (185-88, college: UTRGV) chipped in 12 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Petty is a former Eurobasket Summer League player, which is considered top international summer league in the market. Four Gorgan players scored in double figures. The former international guard Ehsan Dalirzahan (186-0) produced 24 points and Adnan Shaverdi added 14 points and 6 rebounds respectively for lost side. The winner was already known earlier in the game, so both coaches allowed to play the bench players saving starting five for next games. Gorgan (11-1) have an impressive series of ten victories in a row. Defending champion maintains first place. Naft Abadan lost fourth consecutive game. They keep the seventh position with ten games lost. They share it with Exxon SC. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest.
Top scorers:
Gorgan: M.Jamshidi 15+4reb+7ast, C.Evans 13+2reb+2ast, P.Petty 12+6reb+6ast, J.Ashkan 10+2reb+1ast, A.Najafi 10+2reb+3ast, S.Pazrofteh 9+3reb+3ast
Naft Abadan: D.Ehsan 24+4reb+2ast, S.Adnan 14+6reb+2ast, R.Ranjbar 10+7reb, S.Mohammadi 7+3reb+3ast, M.Helchi 5+4reb, A.Doraghi 4+6reb

Sirjan - Niroo Zamini 105-93

Bottom-ranked Niroo Zamini (0-14) tried to put together a comeback for its first victory of the season, but they fell short in the 105-93 loss to fourth ranked Sirjan (9-5) in Sirjan. They dominated down low during the game scoring 62 of its points in the paint compared to Niroo Zamini's 32. They outrebounded Niroo Zamini 37-25 including 24 on the defensive glass. Sirjan players were unselfish on offense dishing 29 assists comparing to just 14 passes made by Niroo Zamini's players. Worth to mention a great performance of Montenegrin-Serbian forward Nikola Dragovic (206-87, college: UCLA, agency: BeoBasket) who helped to win the game recording 34 points (!!!) and 8 rebounds. Russian guard Anton Ponkrashov (200-86) contributed with a double-double by scoring 22 points and 10 assists for the winners. Guard Pouya Yakhchali (-96) answered with 37 points (!!!) and 9 assists (made all of his seven free throws) and Mahdi Agha added 23 points in the effort for Niroo Zamini. Five Sirjan and four Niroo Zamini players scored in double figures. Both coaches used bench players which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games. Sirjan moved-up to third place, which they share with Kerman. Niroo Zamini lost their fourteenth game in a row. They still close the standings with 14 games lost. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest.
Top scorers:
Sirjan: N.Dragovic 34+8reb+3ast, A.Ponkrashov 22+3reb+10ast, M.Soleymani 13+9reb+3ast, A.Taherkhani 12+5reb, N.Reza 10+3reb+2ast, A.Amirhossein 4
Niroo Zamini: Y.Pouya 37+4reb+9ast, A.Mahdi 23+2reb+1ast, M.Payam 13+7reb, S.Reza 10+5reb+1ast, N.Maziar 4+6reb+2ast, P.Ghonoudi 4+1reb



Tags : MOHAMMAD JAMSHIDI, SHAHRDARI GORGAN, IRANIAN BASKETBALL