

Gran Canaria ground out an 83-76 win at Veolia Towers Hamburg after four of its players chipped in with double digits in scoring, paced by the imposing Khalifa Diop who led all performers with 16 points and 5 rebounds. The talented 20-year old center was a menace at both ends of the court, hurting Hamburg in the paint and doing a great job protecting his own at pivotal moments.
Diop enjoyed a rock-solid support cast in Nicolas Brussino (15 points), Vitor Benite (12) and Miquel Salvo (8), the latter hitting a pair of clutch three-pointers although he nailed just 2 of 7 shots from downtown.
Hamburg did a good job limiting the visitors to just 7-of-21 three-point accuracy but were overpowered inside the arc as Gran Canaria grabbed 32 rebounds to the home side's 28. Crucially, the Spanish outfit shot 72.4% on two-pointers (21-for-29) and contained Hamburg to just 53.7% (22-of-41), as the visitors carved out an insurmountable 22-point lead in the third quarter.
Hamburg's late fightback fell short with Kendale McCullum and Jonas Wohlffarth-Bottermann, who scored 15 points apiece, being left with too much work to do against a more resourceful visiting team.