Gran Canaria edges Promitheas in a thriller

In a thriller that went down to the final seconds, Herbalife Gran Canaria grabbed its first win in Group B by edging Promitheas Patras 81-85 on the road on Tuesday. Gran Canaria improved to 1-1 in the standings while Promitheas dropped 0-2. Dylan Ennis led the winners with 20 points, John Shurna added 17 with 11 rebounds and Artem Pustovyi and Andrew Albicy each scored 10 points for Gran Canaria. Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos led Promitheas with 21 points, Isaiah Miles added 14, Kendrick Ray 13 and Jerai Grant 12. Shurna had 10 quick points to give Gran Canaria a 10-15 lead, but Rogkavopoulos, Miles and Grant allowed Promitheas to get a 25-22 edge late in the first quarter. Shurna kept pushing Gran Canaria, getting help from Chris Kramer and Ennis to give the visitors a 44-49 lead at halftime. Rogkavopoulos took over after the break before A.J. Slaughter and Ennis helped Gran Canaria tie it at 66-66 after 30 minutes. Ray helped the hosts to a 77-73 lead, however, Ennis and Albicy fuelled a 0-7 run that put Gran Canaria ahead for good. Shurna sealed the outcome from the foul line with 6.4 seconds left.

Nico Brussino and Shurna each struck from beyond the arc to give Gran Canaria an early 2-6 edge. Miles hit a couple of triples, one from each corner, and got help from Ray and Abdul Gaddy to give Promitheas its first lead, 10-8. Shurna scored all the points in a 0-7 Gran Canaria run, but Grant hit a jumper and Rogkavopoulos sank back-to-back triples for an 18-17 Promitheas lead. Miles ignited the crowd with a dunk, Grant and Pustovyi traded close baskets and Dylan Ennis swished a three-pointer to tie it at 22-22. Miles and a red-hot Ennis traded bombs from beyond the arc for a 25-25 tie after 10 minutes.

Loic Schwartz joined the three-point shootout early in the second quarter, but Ennis matched it with his third bomb from downtown. Ilimane Diop and Ray traded triples before Dario Hunt put the hosts in charge, 35-33. Diop hit a turnaround jumper that Nikolaos Gkikas bettered with a three-pointer. Ennis followed a jumper with a driving layup, then Albicy struck from beyond the arc for a 40-42 Gran Canaria lead. After Chris Kramer downed a floater and banked in a one-handed jumper, Rogkavopoulos brought Promitheas within 44-46. Shurna hit his second triple to fix the halftime score at 44-49.

Shurna erased Grant's dunk with a jumper soon after the break and Pustovyi added a layup for a 46-53 score. Rogkavopoulos buried his fourth three-pointer and got help from Grant to put Promitheas ahead 54-53. Slaughter buried back-to-back jumpers and soon added a driving layup to give the visitors fresh air at 55-59. Gkikas and Miles each struck from downtown in an 8-0 run that allowed Promitheas to regain the lead, 63-59. Slaughter, Rogkavopoulos and Miquel Salvo joined the three-point shootout, and Ennis tied it at 66-66 after 30 minutes

Ennis and a red-hot Rogkavopoulos traded three-pointers early in the fourth quarter. Salvo answered with a fastbreak layup for a 69-71 Gran Canaria edge. Agravanis scored from downtown and Ray hit a jumper for a 74-71 Promitheas lead with 6 minutes left. Ray bettered Albicy's fastbreak layup with a triple, but Ennis kept Gran Canaria close at 77-76. Albicy struck from beyond the arc and added a jumper, which caused the hosts to call timeout at 77-81. Ray buried a corner three, Pustovyi hit a jump hook and Grant brought the hosts within 81-83 with 9.5 seconds to go. Shurna drew a foul and calmly made free throws to seal the outcome

Rogkavopoulos emerges as Rising Star candidate

Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos was completely unknown to 7DAYS EuroCup fans before this season, but it only took him two games to become one of the top candidates to win the Rising Star trophy. Rogkavopoulos is showing a maturity rarely seen in 20-year-old EuroCup newcomers. He had 13 points, 7 rebounds and a PIR of 20 in his first-ever EuroCup game against Valencia Basket last week. Rogkavopoulos also had a great game in Round 2 against Gran Canaria, burying 6-of-8 shots from downtown en route to 21 points. He added 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals for a PIR of 28.

Shurna gets rare double-double

John Shurna had a strong performance against Promitheas Patras in leading Gran Canaria to its first victory. He stepped up with 7 unanswered points to erase Promitheas's first lead, buried a three-pointer to give his team a 44-49 lead at halftime and was also the last player to score in the second half, appearing ice cold from the free-throw line to seal the outcome with just 6.4 seconds remaining. Shurna recorded the first double-double of his 79-game EuroCup career with 17 points and 11 rebounds. His previous personal-best mark in rebounds was 8 with Gran Canaria against UNICS Kazan on January 20, 2021.

Gran Canaria survives three-point barrage

Gran Canaria managed to defeat Promitheas Patras 81-85 though the hosts set a club record for most three-point shots made with 17. The club's previous record was 16 against MoraBanc Andorra on October 30, 2019. Gran Canaria, however, shot the ball much better inside the arc, hitting 20 of 37 shots (54.0%) and holding Promitheas to just 45.8% of its attempts (11 of 24). The visitors only outrebounded Promitheas 28-34 with 14 offensive boards while allowing just 8. Gran Canaria also excelled from three-point land, burying 13 of 29 shots (44.8%).