Gran Canaria made its home court a fortress to open the Last 16 with a 73-65 victory over Turk Telekom on Tuesday in Group L. Gran Canaria now joins Crvena Zvezda with a 1-0 record atop the group, while Turk Telekom and Nymburk are 0-1. A fourth-quarter run of 13-5 in which James Augustine scored 8 points proved decisive for Gran Canaria. Sitapha Savane led the winners with 15 points while Augustine followed with 13 and Marcus Norris with 11 and 5 assists. Demond Mallet of Turk Telekom led all the scorers with 19 points. Erwin Dudley added 18 with 6 boards and Kris Lang posted a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. On a night when both teams shot similar percentages from every distance, solid edges in rebounds (36 to 28), steals (11 to 7) and especially assists (21 to 11) made the difference for Gran Canaria.

Mallet scored 7 of Turk Telekom's points as the guests from Ankara went ahead 6-9 after 5 minutes. Norris answered with 5 points in a row of his own, however, to put the hosts ahead 11-9. Lang tied it up before Will McDonald scored a layup assisted by Jaycee Carroll to push Gran Canaria ahead 15-11. Mallet reappeared beyond the arc to give a new lead, 15-17, to the guests as he already had 10 points. A three-pointer from Josh Fisher and another basket from Lang fixed the score at 18-19 for Turk Telekom after 10 minutes. Augustine completed a three-point-play to open the second quarter that put Gran Canaria in front 23-21. Melvin Sanders added a shot from downtown and then assisted Daniel Kickert for the biggest margin yet, 33-24. Lamayne Wilson kept Turk Telekom alive from the three-point land, but Savane found easy points in the open court to keep Gran Canaria ahead, 36-29. Lang closed the first half with a slam, but the scoreboard still showed 36-31 for Gran Canaria.

Norris opened the third quarter scoring from long distance. Lang answered from mid-range, but Jim Moran kept the hosts going until Carroll scored his first bucket of the night to raise the difference to double figures, 44-34. Turk Telekom remained engaged thanks to Dudley, whose next basket made it 46-40 midway through the third quarter. Wilson from beyond the arc cut again the difference again, to 48-45. Both teams struggled then before Gran Canaria found a 6-0 run capped by Josh Fisher to regain a 10-point lead before Tutku Acik Tutku trimmed the difference again to 56-49 after three quarters. Bekir Yarangume did even better for Turk Telekom early in the fourth, tying the score at 56-56 with a three-pointer, but Augustine exploded with back-to-back baskets to another save Gran Canaria from losing the lead. A three-point-play of Savane after a triple from Mallet excited the home crowd, while a new basket by Carroll at 67-61 seemed to put the game in control of the hosts. Dudley scored from the foul line to raise Turk Telekom's hopes but an astonishing dunk from Augustine and his mid-range jumper to follow up suddenly made it 71-63 and ensured the win for the islanders.