2021-22Regular SeasonRound 11
January 26, 2022 CET: 21:00
Local time: 20:00 GRAN CANARIA ARENA

Gran Canaria reclaims first place in Group B with fourth straight win

Herbalife Gran Canaria reclaimed first place in Group B as it held off a determined Promitheas Patras 81-62 at home. Dylan Ennis led the way with 18 points while Khalifa Diop tallied 11 points and Nicolas Brussino and Chris Kramer both scored 10 points as Gran Canaria won its fourth straight game to improve to 8-2 in Group B. Gran Canaria took control of the game with an 18-4 run to start the second half for a 12-point lead. The margin was as high as 15 before Promitheas rallied within 8 points in the fourth quarter only to see the hosts pull away. Promitheas has now lost five in a row in dropping to 2-8 at the bottom of the group despite Kendrick Ray hitting for 17 points and Dario Hunt scoring 15 points.

After Ray started the scoring, AJ Slaughter hit a triple and Ennis drained a long jumper to make it 5-2. Ray scored again and set up Dimitris Agravanis to put the visitors back ahead 5-6. Brussino’s three-pointer at the other end made it 12-8. Jerai Grant’s inside score even things at 12-12. Diop’s basket had the hosts up 14-12 after 10 minutes.

Ilimane Diop’s tip-in started the second quarter for the home side. Hunt converted an and-one to trim the deficit to 18-17. After 4 Gran Canaria points, Hunt added another three-point play and a hook shot and Ray knocked down a triple in a 2-12 run to push Promitheas ahead 24-29. Ennis countered with a three-pointer, but Grant and Ray kept up the pressure and increased the margin to 29-35. Ennis would not let his team lose touch and buried another triple and made an acrobatic layup to make it 36-38 at the break.

Gran Canaria had the better start to the second half with the first 7 points - including 5 by Brussino - in pulling ahead 43-38. Promitheas needed more than 2 minutes to score before Nikos Ragkavopoulos’s triple. That did not stop the Gran Canaria roll as the hosts reeled off 11 straight points to grab a 54-42 cushion. Hunt’s free throw ended a 5-minute drought, but Kramer and Ennis hit three-pointers and Gran Canaria led 60-45 after 30 minutes.

Promitheas started the final quarter with the first 7 points. Rogkavopoulos’s three-pointer cut the deficit to 60-52. Slaughter’s free throws finally got Gran Canaria on the board after more than 2 minutes. Promitheas could not get the stops as Oliver Stevic put back an offensive rebound and Brussino converted a three-point play as the hosts led 67-54. And Ennis delivered the backbreaker for good with a three-pointer for a 71-56 lead with under 4 minutes to play. Promitheas would not get closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

Khalifa Diop with best showing of the season

Gran Canaria big man Khalifa Diop stepped up with the absence of injured John Shurna as the 20-year-old big man had his best game of the season. The Senegal center, who just celebrated his birthday on January 15, scored 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting and 5-of-6 free throws to go with 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 5 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 17. His points and PIR were season highs - besting the 9 points and PIR of 11 against ratiopharm Ulm in Round 6. Diop’s career highs are 14 points and 25 index rating - both set against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in November 2020.

No birthday presents for Ray, Gaddy

Promitheas Patras guards Kendrick Ray and Abdul Gaddy were both hoping to celebrate their birthdays in style on the island - capped off with a victory to end a losing streak. Ray turned 28 and started the game strong and ended with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 fouls drawn for an index rating of 17. Gaddy had 4 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists on his 30th birthday. Unfortunately for the Promitheas duo, that was not enough and they suffered the loss.

By the numbers: Promitheas outside shooting woes

The most glaring statistical outlier on the box score was Promitheas’s woeful outside shooting. The visitors managed just 3-of-20 shooting on three-pointers (15.0%) while Gran Canaria drained 9 of 20 triples (45.0%). The other major difference was 18 Promitheas turnovers with the hosts committing only 12. Those turned out to be very troublesome as Gran Canaria converted them into 26 points. Promitheas could only come up with 7 points off of Gran Canaria’s miscues.

Dylan Ennis - Gran Canaria (photo Gran Canaria) - EC21
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; CLIVAZ, SEBASTIEN; HADZIC, DENIS
Attendance: 1551
By Quarter1234
Gran Canaria14222421
Promitheas Patras1226717
End of Quarter1234
Gran Canaria14366081
Promitheas Patras12384562
Gran Canaria
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 KRAMER, CHRIS 16:54 10 2/3 2/2     3 3 1 3 2     3 1 12
5 DIOP, ILIMANE 15:02 2 1/2     2 2 4     2     3 1 1
6 ALBICY, ANDREW 14:57 4 1/3 0/1 2/2   4 4 3 1 2     1 5 11
7 SALVO, MIQUEL 17:44 7 2/3 0/2 3/4   5 5 1   1     2 2 8
8 SLAUGHTER, AJ 17:38 7 1/3 1/2 2/2   1 1 2 1 1     1 1 7
9 BRUSSINO, NICOLAS 27:33 10 3/5 1/3 1/1 2 3 5 4 3       3 1 16
10 LOPEZ, JAVI 12:45   0/2 0/1   1   1 1         1 1 -1
13 PUSTOVYI, ARTEM 18:20 4 1/5   2/2 1 2 3   1 1 1   3 1 2
18 DIOP, KHALIFA 18:53 11 3/5   5/6 2 3 5 1 1 1   1 1 5 17
23 MUTAF, DAVID 6:36 3   1/3 0/2                 2 1 -2
31 ENNIS, DYLAN 23:37 18 3/7 4/6     3 3 1   1   1 1 2 15
41 STEVIC, OLIVER 10:01 5 1/2   3/4 2   2 1 1 1     2 2 6
Team                                
Totals 200:00 81 18/40 9/20 18/23 10 26 36 15 11 12 1 2 23 23 92
        45% 45% 78.3%
Head coach: FISAC, PORFI
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Promitheas Patras
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 RAY, KENDRICK 28:58 17 5/7 1/5 4/4 1 3 4 2   1     4 5 17
2 GRANT, JERAI 22:36 7 3/10   1/2 1 5 6   2 2 1 1 3 3 5
3 GADDY, ABDUL 26:37 4 1/1 0/3 2/4 1 1 2 4   1     2 2 4
4 HUNT, DARIO 17:24 15 5/5   5/6 1 3 4     2 1   3 4 18
7 AGRAVANIS, DIMITRIS 27:59 9 3/8 0/3 3/4 3 3 6 1 1 3     3 6 8
8 GKIKAS, NIKOLAOS 16:44   0/2 0/1         3   2     1   -3
9 ROGKAVOPOULOS, NIKOLAOS 29:03 8 1/2 2/6   3 2 5 1 1 2     2 1 7
13 ANDRIC, MIHAJLO 18:15 2 1/1 0/2     3 3 1   4     1 2 1
77 BAZINAS, ATHANASIOS 8:54   0/1               1     2   -4
80 TANOULIS, GEORGIOS 3:30           1 1           2   -1
Team           1 4 5               5
Totals 200:00 62 19/37 3/20 15/20 11 25 36 12 4 18 2 1 23 23 57
        51.4% 15% 75%
Head coach: ZOUROS, ILIAS

Head Coaches

FISAC, PORFI
Gran Canaria
“In the first half we tried to stop their main players. We improved on that in the second half with a great, great defense.”
ZOUROS, ILIAS
Promitheas Patras
“Congratulations to Gran Canaria, they deserved to win the game. We had a terrible third quarter. We didn’t exist on the court - mentally, physically - and we gave Gran Canaria the chance to come back and take a big lead and win the game. I wish them good luck and we have to continue our job.”

Players

ENNIS, DYLAN
Gran Canaria
“I feel great. I hope the next game we can start the first half like this second half. But we’re learning. We haven’t played at home for a while. It’s been a tough schedule. But we’re going to keep chipping away. At this point, as long as we win, that’s the main thing. We just have to keep getting better.”