Gran Canaria moved to the top of the Group B standings in the 7DAYS EuroCup on Tuesday night after edging past Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, 79-71, in overtime at Gran Canaria Arena. This victory improved Gran Canaria to 6-2, while Buducnost dropped to 5-3.
Gran Canaria steps up to beat Buducnost in overtime



In a very tight game, the hosts relied on 16 points from John Shurna to come away with the win. Andrew Albicy also contributed 12 points for Gran Canaria, while Aleksander Balcerowski, Khalifa Diop and Nicolas Brussino all finished with 11. For Buducnost, Alpha Kaba had a team-high 14 points to go with 8 rebounds. Trae Bell-Haynes and Cameron Reynolds were the other Buducnost to get into double figures, scoring 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The first quarter saw Gran Canaria get off to a better start, opening an 11-5 inside the opening four minutes and 18 seconds. Buducnost soon responded and cut the gap to 12-9, but a three-pointer by Vitor Benite reopened the hosts' advantage, 15-9, with 2:32 remaining in the quarter. Yet, Buducnost fought back once again by going on a 0-8 run to take a slender lead, 15-17, with 21 seconds left. Miquel Salvo then hit a couple of free throws, so the score was tied at 17-17 after the first 10 minutes. It was a similar story in the second quarter, too, as Gran Canaria opened a lead as large as seven points, but Buducnost clawed its way back and managed to go into the break level, 36-36, following a pair of free throws from Bell-Haynes.
The script flipped after halftime, though, as Buducnost came out hot and managed to lead for the entire quarter. After being tied at the end of the first, 17-17, and then again after the second, 36-36, a 12-15 margin in favor of Buducnost meant the visitors entered the last quarter with a three-point lead, 48-51. In the fourth, Shurna popped up with a three-pointer inside the first 45 seconds to level the scoreboard, 51-51. Shortly after, Buducnost did enough to retake the lead and keep it, thanks to Kaba and Reynolds, but Gran Canaria got itself level following a triple by Albicy with 3:19 left in regulation. Bell-Haynes scored a go-ahead two-pointer with 2:11 remaining, 62-64, yet Shurna hit back with one of his own 21 seconds later, 64-64. No more baskets were scored, so the game went to overtime.
Kaba scored a nice turnaround jumper of AJ Slaughter early in the extra period to give Buducnost the advantage, 64-66. Brussino and Slaughter both scored two-pointers of their own to swing the momentum, before Bell-Haynes tied it up, 68-68, with a couple of made free throws. The contest began to get away from Buducnost in the final 2:36, as Shurna and Albicy hit a triple apiece to make it a six-point game, 74-68. Reynolds and Kaba both went to the line, going a combined 3-for-4, to make Gran Canaria sweat, 74-71, but Shurna appeared with another three-pointer to all but wrap up the win, 77-71 with 31.0 remaining. Bell-Haynes committed a turnover on the following play, and Diop went 2-for-2 from the stripe to wrap up a 79-71 victory for Gran Canaria.