


Gran Canaria pulled out an undisputed victory from Podgorica when it defeated host Buducnost VOLI 69-94 on Tuesday evening. The visitors dominated the game from the beginning to the end, building a 20-plus-point advantage before halftime that the home team was never close to threatening. Gran Canaria improved to 14-3 and secured first place in Group B, and could add the home-court advantage throughout the playoffs if Prometey Slobozhanske loses on Wednesday. Buducnost, on the other hand, slipped to 9-8 and will finish in sixth place in Group B.
Miquel Salvo and John Shurna led five Gran Canaria scorers in double figures with 16 points apiece. Nicolas Brussino had 14 on 4-of-5 shooting from behind the arc, Andrew Albicy scored 11 on his birthday and Vitor Benite added 10 more, while Ferran Bassas dished 10 assists for the winners. Erick Green paced Buducnost with 25 points in 27 minutes and Alpha Kaba grabbed 11 boards in the losing effort
Back-to-back triples by Brussino and Albicy got Gran Canaria going in a 0-10 run that established a 4-13 advantage after 4 minutes. Buducnost called an urgent timeout, and even though it slowed down Gran Canaria for a while, it didn’t prevent the guests from taking an 8-16 edge after Brussino made his second three. Green replied from downtown, but another 0-6 spark capped by a buzzer-beating layup by Salvo extended the margin even more, 11-24, at the end of the first period.
Budunost’s struggles in offense continued early in the second, as Gran Canaria kept on playing as a well-oiled machine. Salvo and Benite hit a three and a mid-range jumper, respectively, to make it 11-29, forcing the hosts to stop the game again. Benite struck again soon after to extend the margin to 21 points, and showed up again from deep to keep it safe, 16-35, midway through the second quarter. Shurna took over at that moment to prove Gran Canaria didn’t want to relax. He chained together a triple and a three-point play to boost his team to an 18-44 lead. The hosts found some relief through Kaba and Trae Bell-Haynes, but still trailed 27-48 at halftime.
A.J. Slaughter and Green swapped threes to open the third quarter right before Marko Jagodic-Kuridza was called for an unsportsmanlike foul that the guests converted into 5 points to make it 31-58. Buducnost’s offense was fed only by Green, who had scored 15 of the hosts’ first 17 points in the period when the score was 44-64 after 27 minutes. Aleksandar Lazic showed up from deep and Green added another bucket to trim the difference to below the 20-point border, giving the local fans something to cheer for. A mid-range shoot by Slaughter closed the third period with the hosts trailing 50-68.
Salvo and Albicy soon cooled the game with a bucket and a triple, good for a 50-73 lead. Buducnost’s head coach immediately stopped the game again, with less than 2 minutes played, as a last attempt to wake up his team. It didn’t work, though, as Salvo and Albicy drilled back-to-back threes that returned a wide margin to the visitors, 55-82. So, when Salvo scored again soon after to make it a game-high 29-point difference, 57-86, everybody at the Moraca knew the game was already over.