Hemofarm Stada kept its chances to make it to the Euroleague Basketball Nike International Junior Tournament final by downing La Caja de Canarias Gran Canaria 67-76 in Group A on Friday. Hemofarm needs to beat Union Olimpija tomorrow and wait for Gran Canaria to beat Lietuvos Rytas by a narrow margin. Meanwhile, Gran Canaria needs to down L. Rytas by at least 13 points to reach the Nike IJT final. Nemanja Knezevic paced the winners with 21 points on 8-for-9 two-pointers. Milan Vulic added 15, Petar Lambic had 13 while Milos Tripkovic got 12, 6 rebounds and 5 assists for Hemofarm. Oscar Alvarado led Gran Canaria with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and as many as 15 fouls drawn. Alejandro Lopez also had 13 points, Samuel Dominguez added 11 while Milan Jaros and Jesus Lopez each got 10 for Granca. Knezevic and Vulic fueled a 5-13 opening run while Luka Igrutinovic struck from downtown to extend the margin to 6-18. Jesus Lopez stepped up for Gran Canaria but a three-pointer by Knezevic kept Hemofarm ahead, 22-27, after 10 minutes. Knezevic sank his opening 7 shots and got some help from Vulic to boost their team's margin to 31-43. Alvarado, that drawn 10 fouls before halftime, allowed Gran Canaria to return to the game, 40-45, at the break. Gran Canaria managed to stay in the game throughout the first quarter but Hemofarm kept a 62-68 edge with 5 minutes to go. A put-back basket by Alejandro Lopez made it a one-point game, 67-68. Gran Canaria missed two key shots down the stretch while Vulic fed Lambic for a basket and soon added a three-pointer that sealed the outcome, 67-73, keeping Hemofarm in the race to win the 2009 Nike IJT title.