Gran Canaria held off Turk Telekom Ankara's late comeback to win 81-88 on Wednesday night in the Turkish capital. The result left both teams with 5-2 records in Group B. Vitor Benite led the winners with 21 points - 19 of which came in the first half. Damien Inglis added 14, Aleksandar Balcerowski scored 11 and Miquel Salvo and Khalifa Diop each had 10 for the guests. Tony Taylor scored 28 points for Turk Telekom, which suffered its second home loss. Erkan Yilmaz added 12 for the hosts.
Gran Canaria tops Turk Telekom, 81-88, to move into tie for first



A.J. Slaughter and Balcerowski helped Gran Canaria to an early 4-12 margin and then Benite and Diop gave the visitors a 19-28 lead after 10 minutes. Benite struck twice from downtown to boost the lead to 23-38. Benite remained hot and Inglis also sank a triple to make it a 20-point game, 34-54. The score was 37-55 at the break.
Taylor and Nathan Sestina stepped up for Turk Telekom to bring their team within 52-58. Salvo and Ferran Bassas rescued Gran Canaria and then Diop's back-to-back alley-oop dunks made it 64-70 through three quarters. Taylor and Yilmaz each made a triple in an 8-0 run that made it 74-75. Sestina completed the comeback, 78-77, with over 3 minutes left. Nico Brussino buried a critical three-pointer, Inglis added back-to-back jumpers and Bassas sealed the win from the foul line.