Gran Canaria wins big on the road at Nizhny

Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas took control early and routed Nizhny Novgorod 80-106 on the road, to improve to 2-0 in Group A on Tuesday. With 106 points, Gran Canaria had its third highest scoring output in competition history, and second highest on the road. Meanwhile, this was first game of this 7 DAYS EuroCup campaign for Nizhny. The visitors needed less than 7 minutes to open a double-digit lead, and held 42-57 at halftime. In the third quarter, Nizhny got within 10, but never closer before 2-18 fourth-quarter run finished off the hosts. Kyle Kuric netted 20 points on 6-for-8 three-point shooting to pace six Gran Canaria double-digit scorers, and Eulis Baez had 19 points in victory. Royce O’Neale scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter, while Richard Hendrix, Bo McCalebb and Pablo Aguilar each had 11 points apiece in victory. Deandre Kane had 21 points and 8 assists for the hosts, Siim-Sander Vene netted 14, and Ivan Strebkov scored 10 with 6 assists in defeat.

Gran Canaria started off strong. Sasu Salin hit from downtown to help the visitors get going, soon added his second shot from downtown, McCalebb had 6 points, before O’Neale hit a three-pointer followed by a three-point play, 15-26. O’Neale’s put-back in the waning seconds of the quarter made it 24-36, but Vene scored 9 points in the first five minutes of the second, and Kane got it going, as the hosts closed within 40-47. But Gran Canaria quickly restored its double-digit lead, and Baez beat the halftime buzzer with a triple to make it 42-57 at the break. Margin broke the 20-point barrier early in the second quarter before Nizhny reeled off 10 consecutive points, and a three-point play by Kane cut the deficit to 52-62. But the visitors re-focused again, and after Aguilar’s uncontested dunk, the lead was back to 20 points, 58-78 in the final minute of the third quarter. The visitors went into fourth quarter with 61-78 advantage, before using a 2-18 run to open up 68-98 margin behind Hendrix and Kuric, and cruised the rest of the way, registering big road victory.

Gran Canaria won thanks to dishing more assists (31 to 21), making more three-pointers (12 to 7) and free throws (30 to 17), and having higher two-point (69% to 53%) and three-point (52% to 32%) accuracy.

Due to bye weeks in the schedule, both teams have the same opponent next. Nizhny will face Lietkabelis Panevezis on the road in Round 3, and Gran Canaria at home in Round 4.