Gran Canaria will face Next Gen Team for spot in first place game
Gran Canaria takes down Efes after tough fight for 2-0 mark
Game Report
3 Mins read
U18 Gran Canaria remained perfect at the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul by fighting past U18 Anadolu Efes Istanbul 87-79 in Group B. Gran Canaria took Efes’ best punch in the fourth quarter and delivered in the clutch for a 2-0 record. Arthur Tsafack paced Gran Canaria with 23 points and 12 rebounds, Jorge Arteaga had 14 points including the dagger three-pointer late in the game and Code Mbengue added 8 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. Efes fell to 0-2 despite Atahan Akbas scoring 21 points and dishing out 5 assists. Aldin Turkoglu had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Mert Kocagozoglu picked up 13 points in the loss.
After Gran Canaria started with a 9-5 lead, Efes got 5 points from Kocagozoglu in a 0-12 run to go ahead 9-17. The Spanish side punched back with a 13-2 surge and was leading 22-19 after the first quarter. Efes tallied the first nine points of the second quarter to reclaim the lead 22-28. Two baskets from Tsafack evened the game 33-33 and even though Gran Canaria nosed back ahead 37-36, the score was 39-41 at halftime.
The beginning of the second half was back and forth with seven lead changes until Gran Canaria scored 6 straight points to take a 60-55 lead. The score was 60-56 after 30 minutes. Gran Canaria had a strong start to the final frame and increased the lead to 67-58. And the cushion was 71-61 with under 7 minutes to play. A Kocagozoglu three-pointer was followed by two triples from Demir Ozturk and Efes was suddenly down just 73-70. Gran Canaria answered with the next 6 points, and Arteaga buried a dagger three-pointer with 73 seconds left to lead 84-76.
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