IRI – Towzin come good late to beat Rah-o-Tarabari

TEHRAN (Super League) - Towzin Electric struggled but took command midway through the third quarter and won 62-49 over Rah-o-Tarabari in a battle of Iranian Super League high-fliers at the Ketabchi Arena - Kashan in 16th round action.

Trailing 18-17 midway through the second quarter and up 30-27 at half-time, Towzin built a 39-32 advantage five minutes into the third quarter before outscoring their opponents 23-17 the rest of the way.

Zelatko Jovanovic had 24 points and a game-high five steals for Towzin, who leapfrogged Rah-o-Tarabari (both 11-5) into second place behind Petrochimi (12-3).

The Zob Ahan clash against PetroChemi had to be postponed due to Zob Ahan taking on Al Jala in the West Asian League.

Azad Uni rolled to a 109-85 triumph over Saman Bank.

On Top 47-37 at half-time, Azad Uni outscored their opponents 22-13 in the opening five minutes of the second half.

Mehran Hatami's side shot 13 of 30 from long range compared to six of 20 for Saman Bank.

Tajik Pouya led five Azad Uni players in double figures with 24 points while Andre Smith had a game-high 38 in defeat.

Tjik also had nine rebounds and three steals, while .

Kevin Sheppard led the Azad Uni defense with five of his team's 11 steals.

Azad climbed to sixth in the standings at 8-7 while Samad fell to a league worst 1-15.

BA Shiraz prevailed in a 75-70 thriller over H.B. Shahrekur at the Khaneh Basketball venue.

Leading 28-26 at half-time, Shiraz were outscored 11-4 to start the second half but came good in the fourth quarter and prevailed to improve to 6-9 while dropping Shahrekur to 4-12.

Bobby St Preux poured in 28 points and Babak Paknejad 21 for Shiraz while Ali Jamshidi had 23 points in defeat.

Shiraz are now 6-9 and Shahrekur 4-12.

Caspian were 85-77 overtime winners over Melli Haffari at the Shahid Babaei Arena.

Joshua Coopperwood finished with 32 points for Caspian, who are seventh in the standings at 6-10.

Haffari are now 4-11 and in 10th place.

Gorgan were no match for Mahram at the Azadi Arena in Tehran, crashing to a 100-60 defeat.

Mehdi Kamrani, the Iran national team captain at last year's FIBA World Championship, had 17 points and six assists for Mahram.

Chris Williams led Mahram with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Mahram are fourth in the table at 12-2 with Gorgan second bottom at 4-11.

FIBA