


Gran Canaria (12-3), the leader in Group B of the 7DAYS EuroCup, ground out a hard-fought 94-88 home win over Dolomiti Energia Trento (2-13) after the Spanish side overcame a spirited challenge from its Italian opponents. While Granca remains at the top of Group B, Trento stays in ninth and needs a miracle to reach the playoffs.
Nicolas Brussino paced Granca with 16 points and 8 rebounds, while Vitor Benite and Damien Inglis netted 14 points each. Aleksander Balcerowski chipped in with 11 points for the home side and AJ Slaughter scored 10, underlining a balanced team effort. For Trento, Matteo Spagnolo stood out with a game-high 23 points. Diego Flaccadori also netted 17, while Toto Forray and Maximilian Ladurner scored 12 apiece.
Granca carved out a decisive 10-point lead in the first quarter, when its early onslaught engineered a 15-5 advantage and, although Trento staged a valiant fightback, the home team was 30-20 ahead at the end of the opening period.
High-scoring Granca surged ahead on the back of a barrage of fast breaks and sound long-range shooting, leaving the visiting team's defense in tatters. But Trento responded through Spagnolo and Flaccadori, slashing the deficit to 34-31 early in the second quarter before the home side moved up a gear again and pulled away to 53-44 at halftime, with Ferran Bassas nailing a buzzer-beating three-pointer which delighted the home crowd.
The action got scrappy and it became a low-scoring affair after the break, with both sides struggling on offense and shooting some air balls in quick succession, as Trento again reduced the arrears, 59-55, thanks to some rugged defending. However, Brussino came up big again, as he kept pulling the strings and helped his team pull away to 70-59 ahead of the final 10 minutes.
The writing was on the wall for the visitors after Benite sank a triple and the hosts followed that up with another easy basket to make it 80-66 midway through the fourth quarter. But, Trento continued to fight hard to keep the deficit down and was able to walk off the court with its pride intact.