Gran Canaria rolls past Cantu on opening night


Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas impressed in its Eurocup season-opener on Tuesday by rolling past Foxtown Cantu 101-81 in Group B. Gran Canaria matched ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne for first place in the group at 1-0. Cantu jumped out to an early lead, but the hosts pieced together a 14-0 run that bridged halftime to take a 16-point lead and cruised the rest of the way. Kyle Kuric marked his Eurocup debut with 21 points, while Tomas Bella netted 14, Dajuan Summers scored 13 and Walter Tavares dominated the paint with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. The hosts outrebounded Cantu 46-32. James Feldeine starred for the visitors with 25 points on 5-of-7 three-point shooting. Darius Johnson-Odom tallied 14 points and 7 assists in defeat and Eric Williams scored 12.

Damian Hollis started things for the visitors with a three-pointer. Eulis Baez got Gran Canaria on the scoreboard with a three-point play. Feldeine scored twice, including a steal and slam, as Cantu soared to a 3-11 start. Bellas connected from behind the arc, but a Feldeine triple left Cantu with twice as many points as the hosts, 8-16, midway through the quarter. The hosts responded with 12 straight points to take their first lead. Bellas added an assist and another bucket to push Gran Canaria in front 24-20 after 10 minutes. Awudu Abass sniped a three for Cantu, but four Gran Canaria players scored in an 8-0 spurt to take a 9-point lead. Feldeine ended the Cantu drought and cut the difference to 34-30. Brad Newley nailed a three and Kuric collected a steal and slam to give the hosts a comfortable advantage. A red-hot Feldeine made his fourth triple and Johnson-Odom came through with a steal and latup to trim the gap to 42-40. Gran Canaria finished the half with 9 unanswered points, the last three coming from a Kuric triple, to take a 51-40 halftime lead.

Tavares’s tip-in and Bellas’s second three gave the hosts a 16-point lead. Williams settled Cantu with a basket-plus-foul and Johnson-Odom also got points from the line. DeQuan Jones and Feldeine scored as Cantu chipped away at its deficit, eventually drawing within 59-51. Baez restored a double-digit difference for Gran Canaria. It ballooned to 15 before Stafano Gentile capped the third quarter at 70-57. Kuric nailed a three, Summers scored inside and Tavares scored on the offensive glass as the hosts looked to end the game early with a 21-point lead. Johnson-Odom and Ivan Buva cut into the deficit, but the outcome seems certain. Tavares threw down a few more slams in the closing minutes as Gran Canaria marched to an impressive season-opening victory.