Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas clinches top spot in Group B

Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas secured first place in Group B of the Eurocup by winning at Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia 73-78. Kevin Pangos collected 15 points and 7 assists as Gran Canaria notched its third straight victory to improve its mark in the group to 8-2. Sasu Salin and Alen Omic both added 12 points in the win. Reggio Emilia would have needed a 10-point victory to take over first place in the group. The Italian club saw its three-game winning streak snapped and its record fall to 6-4 despite Pietro Aradori and Darjus Lavrinovic both scoring 20 points. Vladimir Vermeenko added 11 points while Amedeo Della Valle and Andrea De Nicolao both chipped in 10 points.

Brad Newley got the guests on the board first before Della Valle evened it. A De Nicolao basket gave Reggio Emilia its first lead, 6-4. Salin answered for Gran Canaria with a three-pointer as the lead swapped hands in the next four scores and De Nicolao made it 10-9. Aradori finished a 7-0 run for a 15-9 lead. Albert Oliver answered with a three-pointer before Lavrinovic pushed the gap to 22-13. Oliver’s next three made it 22-16 after 10 minutes. Lavrinovic opened the second quarter and Oriol Pauli cut it to 24-18. Both teams struggled to score for the next two minutes until Della Valle free throws pushed the lead to 8. Sitapha Savane and Pangos trimmed the gap to 26-22 and two more Pangos baskets followed before Eulis Baez got the guests to within 31-28. Lavrinovic continued his strong game, assisting on Vermeenko’s basket and putting back an offensive rebound for a 35-28 Reggio Emilia lead. Pangos’s next basket made it 35-30 at intermission.

Salin and Newley both scored early in the third quarter to trim the gap to 3, but Aradori hit a pair of three-pointers to extend the lead to 43-34. Gran Canaria responded with the next 6 points, including a three from Baez to make it 43-40. A De Nicolao three-pointer had the margin at 48-40, but the guests went on an 0-9 run with Salin’s three-pointer putting them ahead 48-49. The lead switched hands on the next four scores with Pablo Aguilar’s three made it 52-54. Reggio Emilia twice evened the game over the rest of the third quarter, which ended deadlocked at 56-56. Savane and Newley scored as Gran Canaria inched ahead 58-62 with the hosts hitting just one basket in the first four minutes of the final quarter. Vermeenko, Aradori and Lavrinovic all scored, but could only get Reggio Emilia to within 65-66 with 2:38 minutes to play. Pangos scored a basket and Aguilar hit free throws to make it 68-72 with 80 seconds left. Pangos set up Aguilar to re-establish a 4-point lead and it was 71-74 after Vermeenko’s free throw with 41 seconds to play. Omic was fouled with 28 seconds to play and made the first free throw for the guests. His missed second free throw was rebounded by Newley and Pangos was sent to the line with 19 seconds to play and he made both for a 71-77 cushion. Aradori missed his three-point attempt to seal the Gran Canaria victory.