Gran Canaria cruises past Slask, 87-60

Gran Canaria cruised past Slask Wroclaw 87-60 to advance with ease to the quarterfinals.

Eighthfinals

Round 1

game Slask Wroclaw vs Gran Canaria

Eighthfinals

group e

Gran CanariaGCA

8760

Slask WroclawWKS

group e

Overview

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The home side raced into an 11-0 lead and that set the tone for the rest of the encounter, with Slask rarely looking like competing for a shock road win. The difference reached 22 points, 42-20, shortly before halftime after a 19-2 run, and Gran Canaria’s big lead was never really threatened after the break. Nico Brussino led the way with 15 points on 4-of-6 three-point shooting plus 8 rebounds, AJ Slaughter and Andrew Albicy both scored 11 and Artem Pustovyi added 10 points in the victory. Slask’s Kerem Kanter topped all scorers with 16 points and Travis Trice added 13. Gran Canaria will now face MoraBanc Andorra at home next week in the quarterfinals.

Gran Canaria started on fire from deep with Brussino scoring twice and Albicy sinking another three. Artem Pustovyi added an inside basket and Slask didn’t score for more than 3 minutes until Kanter sank a long two and Martins Meiers was also on target. Slaughter kept Granca comfortable before a driving layup-and-one from Brussino followed by a Pustovyi dunk stretched the lead to 18-6. Ennis added a three-pointer before a series of free throws and a Kanter three-pointer briefly pulled Slask closer. But Ennis followed a triple with a dunk and Slaughter beat the first-quarter buzzer to make it 25-18.

Khalifa Diop and Aleksander Balcerowski scored close to the basket for another double-digit lead, 29-18, and Slaughter also netted inside as the hosts continued to dominate. Miquel Salvo hit another triple to make it 34-18 before a layup from Salvo and a triple from Albicy stretched it to 39-20. Slask couldn’t get anything going and Pustovyi exploded an alley-oop slam for a 42-20 lead after a 19-2 run. Trice ended a run of 6 minutes without scoring for the visiting team from long-range and he added free throws to make the scoreline a little more respectable, 42-27, at halftime.

Albicy started the second half with a three-pointer and Pustovyi emphasized Gran Canaria’s dominance with a pair of inside scores for a 49-27 lead. Slask failed to score for nearly 4 minutes at the start of the third quarter before Jakub Karolak made a three-pointer, Trice added a pair of mid-range jumpers and Karolak again hit from deep to make it 52-37 after a 1-10 run. Oliver Stevic’s inside basket settled the hosts, and Brussino added his third triple to make it 57-37. A pair of inside scores from Kanter and another Karolak three gave Slask hope, but Brussino again hit from deep and Albicy banked in a layup to make it 64-51 after three quarters.

Balcerowski dunked the final quarter’s first basket and Salvo’s three-pointer extended the lead to 69-53. Kodi Justice and Slaughter traded triples before a period of play mainly containing free throws saw the lead stretch to 20 points, 78-58, with 5 minutes remaining. Ennis and Khalifa Diop combined for a showtime basket apiece as Slask’s challenge lost energy, before Ilimane Diop and Javi Lopez added three-pointers for their first scores of the night as the hosts cruised home.