The reigning champs allowed only 26 points in the final 20 minutes to secure the victory.
Gran Canaria's defense shut down Buducnost in second half

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica tallied 44 points in the tight first half against Dreamland Gran Canaria but then the reigning BKT EuroCup champion turned up its vaunted defense and rolled to a comfortable win.
Gran Canaria ended up allowing just 26 points in the final 20 minutes in a 97-70 victory over the Montenegro side to remain perfect in the competition at 9-0.
“Our defensive work in the second half was the key,” said Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic. “When you defend like this you gain confidence on offense. We started scoring and in the end, I think we deserved to win over a team that has a big quality and we will for sure see them in the EuroCup Playoffs.”
Gran Canaria, which has now won 28 of 31 EuroCup games since the start of last season, played its usual strong offense. The 97 points were the team’s second most this season - behind the 111 against ratiopharm Ulm in Round 2 - and the second straight week the team eclipsed the 90-point mark.
Lakovic’s team dished out 28 assists - 5.7 more than its average coming into the game; and was right on target with its EuroCup-best two-point shooting percentage, making 61.3% of those opportunities. And the team was much better than its 36.8% from long range as it made 44.1% on three-pointers against Buducnost.
The defense was much tighter in the second half. Gran Canaria entered the game allowing a second-fewest 73.8 points per game and a EuroCup-low PIR of 72.6. The Spanish side gave up 70 points to Buducnost, which also had a PIR of 62.
The guests also committed 17 turnovers - dead on with the second-most forced turnovers of 17.1 by the Gran Canaria defense, which was also holding opponents to just 33.0% on three-pointers and kept the Buducnost shooters bottled up to the effect of 21.7%.
Lakovic is satisfied with his team’s performance at the halfway mark of the regular season.
“Now the first round is done and we have to work more to be good in the second round as well,” he said.