Canarias holds off Vaerlose, wins fifth place

Five players scored in double figures as Canarias Basketball Academy beat Vaerlose BBK 67-73 to clinch fifth place at the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Belgrade qualifier. Jon Pena collected 16 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists for the winners while Luka Bulashivili had 13 points and Wang Yixiong, Menno Dijkstra and Jordan Connors all scored 12 points. August Haas led Vaerlose with 15 points as well as seven assists while Jacob Larsen had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Asbjorn Nerlov scored 13 points.

Dijkstra opened the game with the first score for Canarias before Nerlov nailed two three-balls for a 6-2 Vaerlose lead. Kasper Christiansen knocked down a three-pointer as well to push the lead to 9-4. Conners scored six points in an 0-8 run for Canarias, which went ahead 9-12. A Connors dunk increased the lead to 10-16 and Pena’s basket had the Spanish club ahead 12-20 after 10 minutes. Dimitrije Nikolic’s basket opened the second quarter and increased the lead to 10 points - 12-22. Henrik Pedersen trimmed it to 16-22 but Bulashivili knocked down two three-pointers and Souleymane Diakite added four points as Canarias used a 1-12 run to extend the lead to 17-34. Larsen answered with four points and Vaerlose was down 24-34 at intermission.

Haas nailed a three-ball early in the second half to trim the gap to 29-34 before Connors made it 29-38. Nerlov knocked down a trey to make it 32-38 but Pena and Wang helped increase the gap to 34-49 as Vaerlose went scoreless for four minutes. Asbjorn Midtgaard’s layup just before the buzzer had the Danish club to within 36-49 after 30 minutes. After Wang opened the fourth quarter, Nikolaj Bank scored back-to-back baskets and Haas and Gustav Thestrup both nailed three-pointers to pull Vaerlose within 46-53. Bulashivili answered with a three-ball and Canarias continued to come up with scores offensively, including Dijkstra’s basket to leave Canarias ahead 52-64 with 1:42 minutes left. Vaerlose refused to go away with a three-point play by Midtgaard and a three-pointer by Aske Flensted to trim the gap to 60-68. Canarias produced just one free throw in three possessions and Larsen’s foul shot cut the deficit to 65-69 with 19 seconds to play. But Dijkstra hit two free throws with 15 seconds left and Pena added two more with nine seconds to ice the game.