Gran Canaria thrashes Bourg at home

Gran Canaria overcame injuries and recorded its third consecutive win in Group B by downing Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 78-49 at home on Wednesday. Gran Canaria improved to 3-1 in the standings while Bourg dropped to 1-3. Dylan Ennis led the winners with 19 points, Ilimane Diop added 11 and Chris Kramer and Artem Pustovyi each scored 10 for Gran Canaria, which was without John Shurna, Nicolas Brussino and Oliver Stevic. Eric Mika and Calvin Harris led Bourg with 7 points apiece. Ennis had 15 points in the opening 6 minutes to help Gran Canaria on an early 21-1 run. Gran Canaria held a 21-3 margin after 10 minutes, boosted it to 36-17 at halftime and then again to 57-28 at the end of the third quarter, enough to seal the outcome long before the final buzzer.

Ennis got Gran Canaria going with 10 unanswered points, including back-to-back triples and a layup. Pustovyi added a put-back basket that prompted Bourg to call timeout at 12-0. Kramer scored off a steal to cap a 14-0 opening run. Pustovyi scored again and Ennis added a fast break layup and a three-point play for a 21-1 Gran Canaria lead. Harris and Mika brought Bourg within 21-3 after 10 minutes.

Mika hit free throws early in the second quarter and erased A.J. Slaughter's jumper with a dunk. Harris downed a jumper and Mika scored down low to cause Gran Canaria to stop the game at 23-11. Ilimane Diop rescued the hosts with a layup and a three-pointer and got help from Ennis to make it 30-13 lead. Miquel Salvo took over with an off-balance layup that Rasheed Sulaimon bettered with a three-pointer. Salvo and Ilimane Diop boosted Gran Canaria's margin to 36-17 at halftime.

Axel Julien buried a jumper right after the break, but he didn't find much help around. Meanwhile, Kramer followed a floater with a layup in an 8-0 run that broke the game open, 44-19. Harris followed a layup with a jumper, but Bourg only managed to trade baskets. Pustovyi hit a jump hook and followed Slaughter's three-pointer with a fastbreak layup that made it 55-23. Pierre Pelos sank a corner triple and Hugo Benitez added a jumper to bring Bourg a bit closer, 57-28, after 30 minutes

Javi Lopez buried a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter, but Alexander Chassang did better with back-to-back jumpers. Pelos hit his second three-pointer only for Ilimane Diop to answer with a put-back layup for a 62-36 Gran Canaria lead. Nothing changed in the final 6 minutes, as Gran Canaria did not find much trouble to cruise to a well-deserved win.

Ennis has an amazing start

Gran Canaria opened its Round 4 game against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse with a 21-1 run in which Dylan Ennis did a little bit of everything. He scored the game's first 10 on free throws, back-to-back three-pointers and a layup. Ennis soon added another fastbreak layup and a wild three-point play. In the opening 6 minutes, Ennis had 15 points on 3-of-4 two-point shooting, 2-of-3 from downtown and 3-of-3 on free throws plus 5 rebounds, a block and a foul drawn for a PIR of 20. Ennis stepped up with the early heroics, allowing Gran Canaria to overcome injuries and register another victory.

Bourg held without field goals in first quarter

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse had a rough start in its Round 4 game against Gran Canaria. After 10 minutes, Gran Canaria led 21-3 and all of Bourg's points came from the free-throw line with Maxime Courby, Calvin Harris and Eric Mika each making a foul shot. Bourg missed all of its 8 two-pointers and its 4 shots from downtown. It also committed 6 turnovers and had a team PIR of -10. Only Mika (4) had a positive PIR, while seven Bourg players had negative PIRs. Bourg never recovered and ended up registering a 78-49 loss.

By the numbers: Gran Canaria stellar at both ends

Gran Canaria had a shorter rotation available in its Round 4 showdown against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse but managed to be strong at both ends, sharing the ball and forcing its opponents to low shooting percentages. Gran Canaria made 23 of 33 two-pointers; its percentage (69.7%) was its best in the competition since November 2017. Bourg was limited to just 14-of-36 two-point shooting (38.9%) and 4-of-20 from beyond the arc (20.0%). Gran Canaria finished the game with 24 assists, twice as many as its opponents, who only recorded 12.