Gran Canaria cruises past ALBA

Herbalife Gran Canaria reasserted its home-court dominance with a 100-81 pounding of ALBA Berlin in the teams’ Group F opener on Tuesday at Gran Canaria Arena. The hosts showed no sentiments for former Coach Aito Garcia Reneses’s squad in scoring a 100 for the first time all season. Gran Canaria outshot ALBA from every range, with Marcus Eriksson’s perfect shooting on 4 three-point attempts highlight an 11-for-20 shooting effort from downtown (55%). Gal Mekel led the winners with 19 points plus 6 assists, Eriksson finished with 13 points as did Anzejs Pasecniks, Oriol Pauli added 12 and Eulis Baez 11. Luke Sikma set a career-high with 27 points for ALBA, Peyton Siva posted 16 points and 5 assists and Marius Grigonus added 11 points.

Mekel and Eriksson each hit from downtown as the hosts jumped out to a 10-4 start. Grigonus answered with a three and Tim Schneider’s tip-in made it a 1-point game. Siva came off the bench and drilled a triple to give ALBA its first lead, 11-12. Gran Canaria regained control with an 8-0 run in which Eriksson hit another three. Pasecniks hit a jumper and Eriksson another triple to extend the margin to 8, but Niels Giffey’s put-back beat the first-quarter buzzer and closed the gap to 26-20. D.J. Seeley hit from deep and then added free throws as Gran Canaria went up by double figures, 37-25. Sikma and Grigonus kept ALBA in the game temporarily, but the hosts’ big guys, Ondrej Balvins and Pasecniks kept Gran Canaria rolling at 48-34. Albert Oliver free throws left Gran Canaria with a 53-38 halftime advantage.

It was all Gran Canaria to start the second half; Mekel had 4 points and Eriksson added a triple in a 13-0 run. Siva ended the ALBA drought and Akeem Vargas had an assist and a three in a 0-10 run, but even after that, a Pasecniks layup made it 68-48 midway through the third quarter. Sikma buried a pair of threes, but Gran Canaria regrouped through Oliver and Pablo Aguilar. Pauli’s floater to end the third quarter made it 84-59. Siva and Sikma led a 0-9 ALBA run to get within 87-70, after which the hosts called timeout. Baez connected from downtown to restore a 20-point margin and though the visitors worked hard to minimize their deficit in the remaining time, the outcome was already clear.