Gran Canaria overpowers Nanterre

U18 Herbalife Gran Canaria started its Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia with a dominant 72-52 victory over U18 Nanterre 92. Kany Tchanda led the way with 17 points for Gran Canaria, which took first place in the same qualifying tournament last season. Nestor Luis chipped in with 12 points and 7 rebounds, Eddy-Valentino Pinedo had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals and Jean Montero collected 9 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals as the Spanish side pulled away in the first half and never looked back in the Group A game. Maxime Raynaud was Nanterre’s leading scorer with 13 points to go with 8 rebounds and Marc-Antoine Loemba had 12 points and 8 steals.

Amadou Doumbia opened the scoring for Gran Canaria and it was 4-0 before Raynaud got Nanterre’s first points. The scoreboard showed 8-7 when the Spanish side started to pull away with Pape Aloune Diop scoring 5 points to start an 11-2 close to the quarter and a 19-9 lead after 10 minutes. Luis and Montero teamed for 9 points as the advantage grew to 28-12. Nanterre started to score a bit more regularly, getting within 32-19 and trailing 38-24 at the break.

Tchanda scored 6 points early in the second half for Gran Canaria to make it 44-28. The French side managed to pull within 12 before Luis and Luis Lopez scored pushed the margin to 48-32 and the gap was 50-35 after 30 minutes. Tchanda netted the first 5 points of the fourth quarter and the cushion grew to 20 points, 55-35. Nanterre was never able to get closer than 17 the rest of the way.