2016-17Top 16Round 2
Montakit Fuenlabrada 85
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas 75
January 10, 2017 CET: 20:30
Local time: 20:30 FERNANDO MARTIN
Pako Cruz - Montakit Fuenlabrada - EC16 (photo Fuenlabrada)

Fuenlabrada suffocates Gran Canaria attack for big win

Montakit Fuenlabrada held the 7DAYS EuroCup’s top offense to just 23 second-half points in defeating Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas 85-75 on Tuesday in Group E. The result gave Fuenlabrada its first Top 16 win, while Gran Canaria fell to 0-2. Pako Cruz starred with 16 points and 6 assists and Ludde Hakanson made 4 of 6 three-pointers for 16 points, too. Rolands Smits added 15 points, Ian O’Leary 14 and Ivan Paunic had 13 for the winners. Fuenlabrada outshot Gran Canaria from every range, making 65.7% of their 35 two-point attempts and shooting 11 for 24 (45.8%) from downtown. The hosts also outrebounded Gran Canaria 34-26, which helped make up for their 16 turnovers. Kyle Kuricmade 5 of 12 three-pointers to lead Gran Canaria with 21 points and Bo McCalebb added 11 points and 5 assists in defeat. Gran Canaria was held to 9-of-32 shooting (28.1%) from behind the arc.

Hakanson and Cruz each hit threes as Fuenlabrada jumped out to an 8-3 lead. Anzejs Pasecniks and McCalebb helped carry Gran Canaria to within 19-18 on a pair of Sasu Salin free throws. The teams traded shots, but Fuenlabrada remained ahead 31-29 after 10 minutes. The visitors took their first lead on a Kuric triple to open the second quarter. After Smits tied the game at 32-32 with a free throw, Gran Canaria went on a 0-13 tear in which Kuric hit 2 more threes. The lead reached 14 twice before Fuenlabrada closed the half on a 13-2 run, in which Hakanson and Smits each scored twice, to get within 49-52 at the break. Paunic tied the game at 57-57 before hitting a three to put the hosts back ahead. O’Leary got going with 5 straight points for a 65-59 advantage. Then Smits scored on consecutive possessions and Blagota Sekulic gave Fuenlabrada its first double-digit lead, 70-60. O’Neale gave Gran Canaria hope at 72-64 entering the fourth quarter. Both teams were cold early in the fourth quarter. Richard Hendrix split free throws to make it 74-67, but that was as close as Gran Canaria got. Smits restored a double-digit lead with less than four minutes remaining and Sekulic blocked McCalebb on the next play. Kuric’s fifth triple made it an 8-point margin, but he missed his next shot and Fuenlabrada held on the rest of the way.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Eurocupbasketball.com
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Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; OVINOV, SEMEN; BAUMANIS, INGUS
Attendance: 2617
By Quarter1234
Montakit Fuenlabrada31182313
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas29231211
End of Quarter1234
Montakit Fuenlabrada31497285
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas29526475
Montakit Fuenlabrada
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 O'LEARY, IAN 22:18 14 3/3 2/2 2/3 1 2 3       1   2 1 16
5 RUPNIK, LUKA 15:54   0/1 0/3   1 1 2 3 1 3     3 2 -2
6 HAKANSON, LUDDE 24:06 16 2/2 4/6     2 2     2     4 1 11
9 SEKULIC, BLAGOTA 25:54 6 3/5     2 5 7 2   2 1   1 3 14
11 CRUZ, PAKO 28:47 16 5/9 2/5   1 4 5 6       1 3 3 19
12 WEAR, DAVID 17:42 3   1/3     5 5 1 1 2     3 1 4
13 SMITS, ROLANDS 25:43 15 5/6 1/3 2/6 2 2 4     1   1 2 4 12
15 GONZALEZ, CHEMA 14:06 2 1/3     3   3 1   2     3 1  
21 DIAGNE, MOUSSA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
31 PAUNIC, IVAN 25:30 13 4/6 1/2 2/2   3 3 1   4     3 2 9
51 MORENO, VICTOR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 85 23/35 11/24 6/11 10 26 36 14 2 16 2 2 24 18 85
        65.7% 45.8% 54.5%
Head coach: CUSPINERA, JOTA
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 HOLLINS, RYAN 9:21 2 1/2     1 1 2   1 1     2 2 3
2 HENDRIX, RICHARD 11:53 4 1/1   2/4   1 1   2 1 1   4 3 4
4 OLIVER, ALBERT 16:44 4 1/3 0/1 2/2 1 2 3 4         1 1 8
6 PLANINIC, DARKO 7:22 1     1/2 2 1 3     2       1 2
7 MCCALEBB, BO 23:16 11 5/9 0/2 1/1 1 3 4 5 1     1 1 3 16
9 SALIN, SASU 15:33 8   2/6 2/2   1 1             1 6
13 BAEZ, EULIS 27:24 4 0/3 0/1 4/4   3 3 1 1 3     2 6 6
14 PASECNIKS, ANZEJS 9:39 5 2/2   1/2 1 1 2     1     2 2 5
15 O'NEALE, ROYCE 21:30 9 3/6 1/5   1 3 4 1 2 1 1   1   8
21 PAULI, ORIOL 8:42 2 1/1           2 1           5
22 RABASEDA, XAVIER 24:09 4 0/1 1/5 1/2 1   1   2     1 3 1 -2
24 KURIC, KYLE 24:27 21 2/5 5/12 2/2 2   2     1     2 4 14
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 75 16/33 9/32 16/21 10 17 27 13 10 10 2 2 18 24 76
        48.5% 28.1% 76.2%
Head coach: CASIMIRO, LUIS

Head Coaches

CUSPINERA, JOTA
Montakit Fuenlabrada
"I would like to separate the game into two parts. The whole game felt more like a practice and one-on-one than an actual match between two teams. In the first quarter we had received 3 three-pointers and the rest of the points came from layups, and most of these happened in the last minute of the first quarter. I was aware that the second we would stop scoring and they wouldn’t, and I was right. As individual players they are better than us. They were even up by 14 points at one point. In regards to Ian O’Leary, I had taken the suggestion given to me by my assistant coaches and had him defend Kyle Kuric and he did a great job. He added character to the game overall and had a very positive impact on the team. In the second half, the key was our defense, we started to use that and it helped us for the rest of the game. We added our heart in the game in the second half and it showed. Ian did an amazing job today. Moussa was out for the day, due to back problems and we wanted to make sure he was ready to go, for our match on Sunday against Obradoiro. Considering his injury and recovery time, Blagota is slowly gaining his confidence back and helping the team. "
CASIMIRO, LUIS
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas
"They played very well; they deserve a lot of credit considering the injuries they have. We must congratulate them on the victory. We did not play well on defense, made too many mistakes, and when it looked like we could control the game with a 14 point lead in the second quarter, we made a lot of mistakes and we did not rebound. We led by 3 at halftime, but they believed they could win and in the second half had more faith and deserved to win. "

Players

CRUZ, PAKO
Montakit Fuenlabrada
"We stayed strong on our home court. Fortunately today we played very good defense. We entered the second half more focused and thanks to that and our defense we won the game. They were scoring lots of three-pointers, especially in the first half, they were forceful and repeatedly kept attacking the basket. That helped motivate us for the rest of the game. We need to keep improving and continue to learn from the rival teams. We need to continue down this road and prepare for the upcoming game on Sunday. We are currently just focused on winning every game that comes our way and just doing the best we can and hoping it gets us as far as we need it to. "
OLIVER, ALBERT
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas
"We had difficulties on defense from the beginning. They played with confidence and in the second quarter we could have broken the game, but they came back and closed the score. In the second half they were better. We know that now is difficult to advance to the next round with two losses, but there are four games left. We must think about Murcia and then we will see."
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