Gran Canaria grabs important win over Turk Telekom, 89-79

Gran Canaria locked up a top-two finish in Group B as it fought off Turk Telekom Ankara 89-79 at home on Wednesday night. Gran Canaria saw a 21-point lead cut to 6 before prevailing and improving to 13-3, including 8-0 at home and nine wins in the last 10 games. Turk Telekom saw its three-game winning streak snapped, as it dropped to 11-5 and fell two games behind Gran Canaria.
John Shurna led the way with 20 points for the winner, who also had Ferran Bassas hit 5 three-pointers for 15 points and Aleksander Balcerowski and A.J. Slaughter both add 11 points. For Turk Telekom, Jerian Grant finished with 23 points, and Tyrique Jones scored 20 points in his return to action.
In a battle of the top two teams in Group B, Gran Canaria first opened some space with Nicolas Brussino, Slaughter and Shurna all hitting triples in a 9-0 run to lead 17-11. Bassas lit it up with 3 three-pointers to put the hosts up 28-16, and it was 28-18 after 10 minutes.
The Gran Canaria defense stepped up and Bassas added 2 more triples as the advantage grew to 48-27. Another Slaughter triple made it 51-30, as the Spanish side led 51-34 at the break.
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Early in the third quarter, 2 more three-pointers pushed the cushion back to 21 points, 57-36. Gran Canaria’s offense dried up for more than four minutes and Nathan Sestina bookended a 0-15 run with three-pointers to pull the visitors within 57-51. A three-point play and triple from Aleksander Balcerowski put the hosts back up by double digits 65-55, though. The score was 69-60 after three quarters of play.
Turk Telekom needed more than two minutes to score in the fourth, but it managed to pull within 73-66. But, Shurna delivered the dagger three-pointer with two minutes left for a 79-69 cushion.