Canarias wins a thriller, stays alive

Canarias Basketball Academy remained alive for a spot in the semifinals of the Belgrade qualifier of the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT by holding off Umana Reyer Venice 71-68 in Group B. Jordon Connors scored Canarias’ first 16 points and ended up with 32 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and four steals. Menno Dijkstra added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Canarias, which improved to 1-1 in the group. The Spanish club next faces Zemun Belgrade on Day 2 with the winner advancing to the semifinals. Venice dropped to 0-2 despite Leonardo Tote and Riccardo Visconti both scoring 18 points while Riccardo Bolpin added 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and five steals in the loss.

Tote opened the scoring with a free throw and two baskets to make it 3-7. But Venice could not stop Connors who scored Canarias’ first 16 points, including two dunks after steals for a 16-9 lead. Souleymane Diakite scored the first points by someone other than Connors on two free throws for an 18-9 advantage and two more Connors free throws made it 20-9. Mihaljo Jerkovic cut the deficit to 20-11 but Wang Yixiong dunked to make it 22-11 after 10 minutes. Jon Pena started the second quarter scoring and Dijkstra pushed the margin to 28-11. Bolpin finally got Venice on the scoreboard in the quarter with a steal and dunk and Tote nailed a three-ball before a Michele Antelli dunk trimed it to 30-18. Pena and Connors scored to push the gap to 34-18 before Visconti hit two free throws and a three-pointer as Venice pulled to within 34-25. And the score was 37-27 at intermission.

Tote opened the second half with a dunk and a three-pointer to get Venice within 37-32 before Dijkstra scored Canarias’ first points to make it 39-32. Dijkstra pushed the margin back out to 45-36 before Visconti and Nicholas Groppi scored to cut the gap to 45-40. It was down to 47-43 after a Sebastiano Crivellari dunk, but Connors responded with four points to make it 51-43. And two Juan Aleberto Esteves free throws had the Spanish club up 55-46 going into final 10 minutes. Alessandro Simoni opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and Visconti’s two free throws had Venice to within 55-51. Pena answered with a triple before two Bolpin scores and a Visconti free throw cut the gap to 58-56. And it was 60-59 on Antelli’s three-ball with four minutes to play. Dijkstra responded with a three-point play and it was 65-61 after two Connors free throws. Venice would not go down without a fight as Bolpin nailed a three-ball and Visconti made two baskets to push the Italian club ahead 67-68 with 29 seconds left. Wang came up big with a basket to make it 69-68. Bolpin missed a shot and then was called for an unsportsmanlike foul. Pena missed two free throws but Dijkstra made his two foul shots with five seconds to play to make it 71-68. And Visconti turned the ball over to finish off the game.