The thriller featured eight lead changes and three ties in the fourth quarter alone. The hosts trailed by as many as 13 in the first half before turning things around in the third quarter and surviving at the end of the fourth. Rasheed Sulaimon scored 21 points and dished 6 assists to lead Bourg, which won for the third time in four games to improve to 5-8. JaCorey Williams added 12 points and 8 rebounds for the winners. Dylan Ennis paced Gran Canaria with 18 points, John Shurna collected 10 points and Andrew Albicy dished 9 assists in defeat. The loss dropped Gran Canaria’s record to 9-4 and denied the visitors a chance to advance to the knock-out stages.

Bourg edged Gran Canaria in a thriller 

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse v Gran Canaria (2022-02-17T19:00:00.000Z)

Jalen Jones - Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse (photo Jacques Cormareche - Bourg) - EC21

This is what the protagonists had to say after the Round 13 showdown between Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse and Gran Canaria. 

Post-game quotes: Bourg vs. Gran Canaria

### Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse head coach Laurent Legname:

“I am really proud tonight because as I told you at halftime, we didn’t play bad in the first half, we just needed to switch our attitude and aggressiveness on defense. And we allowed only 26 points in the second half against this team… I think we played really smart on offense also. For us this is a big win. Gran Canaria is a big team in the EuroCup. For us this is the first great win and it gives us confidence for the future. Congratulations to my players for tonight.”

### Gran Canaria assistant coach Victor Garcia:

“Even though every loss is tough, I think we played the right way a lot of minutes. We lost a little bit our concentration in the third quarter with some bad actions, some offensive fouls, some situations where we were out of the game. But we came back, we played the right way like we talked before the game, moving the ball, taking good shots. You have to look at more than the result, you have to recognize the effort and recognize the way that we played t the end, it’s a game that we lost in the last possession and we had the lost shot to win and we missed dome free throws at the end of the game. Nothing to say. We will keep fighting because this is an important moment of the season.”  

### Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse guard Rasheed Sulaimon:

“It was an amazing game. Two great teams, great players. We just fought. We knew we had to win this game against a great team and we just believed in ourselves. Just look at the last shot. \[C.J. Harris\] has been out with COVID for a long time. Hasn’t scored in the whole game and our whole team trusted him to make the biggest shot and he came through. I just love this team. I love how we stay together and it was a big win.”

Rasheed Sulaimon - Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse (photo Jacques Cormareche - Bourg) - EC21

## Group B

### [Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 78-76 Gran Canaria](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2021-22/mincidelice-jl-bourg-en-bresse-gran-canaria/U2021/130/)

C.J. Harris sank a jumper with 3 seconds remaining to lift Bourg to a thrilling 78-76 victory over Gran Canaria, which denied the visitors a chance to advance to the knock-out stages. The hosts trailed by as many as 13 in the first half before turning things around in the third quarter and surviving a back-and-forth battle in the fourth. Rasheed Sulaimon scored 21 points to lead Bourg, which won for the third time in four games to improve to 5-8, while handing Gran Canaria its second straight loss to fall to 9-4.

<center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Calvin Harris Jr. 🥶<a href="https://twitter.com/JLBourgBasket?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JLBourgBasket</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7DAYSMagicMoment?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7DAYSMagicMoment</a> <a href="https://t.co/VB93IszNwU">pic.twitter.com/VB93IszNwU</a></p>&mdash; 7DAYS EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1494413428194111490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Game night: Bourg edged Gran Canaria in Thursday make-up game

Jacorey Williams - Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse (photo Jacques Cormareche - Bourg) - EC21

Some players have to start from the bottom to get to the 7DAYS EuroCup and enjoying the journey is part of the experience.

Babatunde Olumuyiwa, Andorra: 'I like to play against the best'

Few fans and basketball experts had heard of Babatunde Olumuyiwa before he signed with MoraBanc Andorra late in the 2019-20 season. Two years later, he is a key member of the team's frontcourt rotation, always bringing energy and hunger. That willingness and character are what allowed him to climb from the Mexican development league to the EuroCup, slowly by steadily earning a reputation as a hard-working center. 

There were so many twists and turns in Olumuyiwa’s career that not even Wikipedia has his origins straight.

"I was born in L.A. and then I moved to Athens, Georgia, when I was a baby," Olumuyiwa, who is nicknamed 'Tunde', said. "But my mother is from Sierra Leone and my father is from Nigeria." 

Basketball was not part of Olumuyiwa’s life in his early childhood. He only picked up the game at age 13 when a friend convinced him to try out for a team because of his height. He was a stand-out player in high school and played college basketball at the University of South Carolina Upstate, though he had a tougher time there. During his senior year, Tunde averaged 2.9 points and 1.9 rebounds in 22 NCAA games.

"I was like a kid in a candy shop and I was ready. Whenever they needed, I was ready."

With numbers like those, many players might hang up their shoes, but Olumuyiwa kept pursuing a basketball career. His first professional club was Cerveceros de Meoqui in Mexico in a local development league named Chihuahua Vive. 

"It was interesting because this was my first time really away from home," he said. "I enjoyed it. And I grew a lot from being there. I had to grow up a lot mentally, not only because of the game of basketball, but because of my living environment. So it was difficult at the beginning, but as I adjusted, as I adapted, things got better and in the end, I enjoyed my time there." 

Olumuyiwa played well enough to draw attention from a Spanish second division club, Clavijo, in the city of Logroño. He played there with another EuroCup center, Simon Birgander of Joventut Badalona. Olumuyiwa averaged 8.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks and earned a spot on the team for another season. 

"After my year in Mexico, the agent that I had at the time had a European partner and I guess they were in contact. And then next thing you know, I'm in Spain! I played well my first year and so I end up signing again for a second year and spending two years in Clavijo, in Logroño, which is nice. I really enjoy and love the city," Tunde said. "The cultural shock was definitely brutal. It was my first time in Spain and it was interesting. The first few months were very different and I had to adjust. The language barrier was difficult for me, but little by little, I adjusted. I like the city and I like the Spanish culture and the customs that I'm used to now."

After two years in Logroño, Olumuyiwa wanted to take play more and joined a third division team, Arcos Albacete Basket. His good numbers there (11.2 ppg., 6.8 rpg.) earned him a shot with Real Betis Energia Plus in the second division. Olumuyiwa played a key role off the bench and helped Betis gain promotion. Then he moved to Palma de Mallorca at the start of the 2019-20 season until the COVID-19 pandemic stopped basketball for several months.

"Andorra is nice. It's quiet... It's beautiful, and the sightseeing? Oh man, it's amazing."

"It was definitely a journey because I did the two years in Logroño, then I moved to the third division in Albacete, then later Sevilla, where we got the promotion, and then my year in Majorca. I'm happy for the time and the development throughout all of these years," Olumuyiwa said. "I think it made me a better player mentally and physically and I was happy for this opportunity when I when I got a call from Andorra." 

Andorra needed a big man to complement its roster for the Spanish League's end-of-season tournament in Valencia in the summer of 2020 and signed Olumuyiwa on a short-term contract. The opportunity he was looking for had finally arrived and Tunde was ready to give everything he had. 

"Of course, and this was the goal when I got to Spain, to get to the ACB. It took a little bit longer than originally planned, but it happened in the end. When they called, I was ready,” said Olumuyiwa. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime and I wasn't going to pass this opportunity or say no. So for me, I was excited. I was like a kid in a candy shop and I was ready. Whenever they needed, I was ready." 

Olumuyiwa played a big role in the tournament for Andorra with 6.6 points on great shooting percentages (72.2% 2FG, 87.5% FT) and 5.0 rebounds. His efforts led Andorra to resign him and Olumuyiwa is still with the team. 

"The game never stops, and I just want to continue to grow. Each day, each game, each year, I am just trying to be better than I was the year before and just continue to improve. I'm hungry for the game, and I'm continuing to enjoy it and just trying to improve as much as I can," he said.

Tunde has adjusted well to life in his new home and has had time to see everything in the Principality of Andorra, the sixth-smallest state in Europe. 

"Andorra is nice. It's quiet. It's not like a big, big city or something, but it's really nice and quiet. I enjoy the snow. I was never someone who spent a lot of time in the mountains growing up. But now being here, I enjoy it," Olumuyiwa said. "The food is really good. This year, with the borders open both from Spain and France, now I can see the tourism that comes to Andorra, and it's a nice country. It's really nice. It's beautiful, and the sightseeing? Oh man, it's amazing." 

He has remained effective at both ends of the court. Staying in Andorra gave Olumuyiwa the chance to make his EuroCup debut and in his two seasons in the competition, he has regularly provided Andorra with a physical spark no matter how much playing time he gets. 

"I really like the competition. I enjoy it and I think it's an opportunity to see how you are against other players around Europe, not just in your respective country," he said. "And I enjoy it because I like to play against the best. So for me, it's a really big opportunity and I just try and take advantage of it as much as I can."

Mario Nakic was one of the big storylines in MoraBanc Andorra’s 99-65 blowout victory over Slask Wroclaw as the 21-year-old had a career night.

Nakic ignited Andorra attack on career night

Nakic started the second quarter with a three-pointer from the right wing. He followed that with 2 free throws and then a fastbreak layup after a steal for 7 points within 71 seconds. The forward scored another fastbreak layup after a long pass from Moussa Diagne before knocking down a long corner jumper for 11 points in just 4:19 minutes to even his career-high.

The former Real Madrid talent, who helped the club win the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament title in 2019, scored another fastbreak layup with 80 seconds left in the game to finish with 13 points in just 18:10 minutes on the floor. That topped the 11 points he scored against Hamburg Towers in Round 3. Nakic added 1 rebound and 1 steal in his big night.

After being held scoreless in Rounds 7 and 8, Nakic has tallied at least 5 points in each of the last five games and is averaging 5.8 points in his first EuroCup season.

Mario Nakic - MoraBanc Andorra (photo Martin Imatge - Andorra) - EC21

MoraBanc Andorra v Slask Wroclaw (2022-02-15T19:00:00.000Z)

Umana Reyer Venice celebrated a huge win over Group B leader Gran Canaria by combining hard-nosed defense and great long-range shooting.

Reyer froze Gran Canaria on both ends

Gran Canaria visited Venice as one of the hottest teams of the competition, having won its last five games to claim its place atop Group B. However, Umana Reyer Venice took the court without any fear and showed great concentration, preventing its opponent from taking charge from the very beginning and excelling both on offense and defense to build a difference that was over the 20-point border several times after halftime.

On offense, Reyer used an amazing shooting performance in the second quarter, when it opened the period chaining together 5 three-pointers from four different players in the first 5 minutes that rocketed its lead to 35-16. Right after the intermission, the hosts added 3 more that extended the margin to 52-29 after 26 minutes, which proved insurmountable for the guests.

On the other end, Reyer held Gran Canaria to 10, 13 and 16 points in the first 3 quarters, forcing 20 turnovers from the visitors and getting 10 steals from them in that time. That superb defensive display allowed the hosts to limit Gran Canaria’s offense to just 59 points at the end of the game, its season-lowest, and complete, as head coach Walter De Raffaele recognized in the press conference “maybe one of our best defensive games this season.”

Victor Sanders - Umana Reyer Venice (photo Alessandro Scarpa - Reyer) - EC21

Umana Reyer Venice v Gran Canaria (2022-02-15T19:00:00.000Z)

Pelos does it all for Bourg and is second on the team in PIR (13.3 per game). He is among the team leaders in scoring (11.4 ppg.), two-point (56.8%) and three-point shooting accuracy (51.4%) and rebounds (4.2 rpg.). Pelos’s ability to score from all over the court makes him so difficult to guard, as he can overpower most power forwards in the paint and take most centers off their games with his outside shooting. He was off his game the last time these teams met and a good performance this time from Pelos is important for Bourg.

Shurna recently returned from injury and hit the ground running. He comes off a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) in Tuesday’s loss in Venice and is averaging 11.8 points on 60% three-point shooting, 5.1 rebounds and 1.0 steal in eight games for Gran Canaria. The veteran power forward has six EuroCup seasons with four teams under his belt and has been an excellent offensive rebounder and premier three-point shooter at all of them. He missed the game the last time these teams met and could play a key role this time as his team tries to

Big men Pierre Pelos and John Shurna are key players for their respective teams and will have critical roles when Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse hosts Gran Canaria on Thursday night.

Major matchup: Pelos, Bourg vs. Shurna, Gran Canaria

### Guard play could make the difference for Bourg

Bourg has committed the second-fewest turnovers (11.7 per game) and leads the EuroCup in three-point shooting (41.6%) this season. Those are both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Gran Canaria defense. While Gran Canaria leads the competition in steals with 9.3 per game, it has allowed opponents to shoot 37.6% from behind the arc. Those numbers help map out a game plan against the islanders, who are playing their second road game in three days.

Hence, the keys for Bourg sit with its guards. If the likes of Axel Julien, Hugo Benitez, C.J. Harris and Rasheed Sulaimon can handle the Gran Canaria pressure and orchestrate good looks from downtown for themselves and others, it could help the hosts capture a valuable victory that would shoot it higher into the standings.

### Energy will be key for Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria comes into this game with plenty to play for, but also on the heels of its first road loss of the season, just 48 hours earlier, in which it scored a season-low 59 points and committed 25 turnovers, which tied for the most in club history. Coach Fisac’s men must shake that loss in Venice off and find the energy to compete in Bourg knowing that a victory sends it atop Group B and clinches its place in the knock-out stages.

When Gran Canaria beat Bourg 78-49 in Round 4, it overwhelmed its opponents in the paint, making 23 of 33 two-pointers (69.7%) and controlling the boards 37-27. Big men Artem Pustovyi and Ilimane Diop combined for 21 points on 8-of-9 two-point shooting and if they, together with John Shurna and Khalifa Diop, can take charge inside, it would be a big boost for the visitors.

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse hosts Gran Canaria on Thursday night in a make-up game from Round 13.

Keys to victory: Bourg vs. Gran Canaria

The hosts had a peaceful evening against Gran Canaria as they opened the game with a 5-0 lead and remained in charge all night long. Reyer grabbed a 19-10 edge at the end of the first quarter, mostly exploiting Gran Canaria’s weaknesses in taking care of the ball. The visitors committed 9 turnovers in the first 10 minutes and that trend continued until the final whistle.

Even though Gran Canaria improved it a little bit in the second quarter, it added 4 more turnovers that allowed Reyer to build a 41-23 halftime advantage. Things got worse for the islanders as they almost doubled the number of turnovers, going for 12 more to finish with a total of 25. Almost half of them (12) ended up directly in Reyer's hands, which helped the local team maintain a safe margin all over the way and cruise to a big home win.

Umana Reyer Venice ruined Gran Canaria’s dream of securing a playoff spot on Tuesday by taking advantage of its opponent’s 25 turnovers to defeat the Group B leader.

Telling numbers: Turnovers sink Gran Canaria in Venice

Michele Vitali - Umana Reyer Venice (photo Alessandro Scarpa - Reyer) - EC21