The top-of-the-table showdown between Bourg and Gran Canaria sees the best two teams in Group B face off in a pivotal contest.
Bourg-Granca showdown could be a defining moment for both clubs
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3 Minute de lecture
What a difference two months can make. When Dreamland Gran Canaria hosted Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse on October 25 in Round 4, the reigning champs were riding high with a 3-0 record and an average margin of victory of 19.7 points. Bourg was also undefeated, though it had scraped out a couple of narrow wins among its three victories.
On that night, Gran Canaria pulled away early and led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter before Bourg rallied. That rally came up short as the hosts won 84-76.
Regular Season
Round 13 of 18
Group B
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Bourg has been chasing Gran Canaria ever since. And its comeback will be complete if it wins when these teams meet tonight at Ekinox.
Coach Frederic Fauthoux’s Bourg is the hottest team in the EuroCup with six consecutive wins. Moreover, it is undefeated at home this season. A win against Gran Canaria will see Bourg go atop Group B with an 11-2 record and become the first team from the group to clinch a playoff berth.
Gran Canaria has slumped to back-to-back losses for the first time since April 2022. Its 22-point loss last week against Dolomiti Energia Trento was the worst home defeat in terms of margins since 2015.
The story of this game, however, is more than just Bourg riding high and looking to pile on the suddenly struggling champs. Gran Canaria center Pierre Pelos joined the club from Bourg, where he had played the previous three seasons. He is one of two Frenchmen on the Gran Canaria roster alongside Andrew Albicy. A.J. Slaughter also spent many years playing for French clubs.
They are part of an experienced club that is aiming high and seeking to use this game as a chance to turn things around and create a buffer at the top of the standings. That is the goal for Gran Canaria.
Bourg is a club built on many young players looking to the future, but there are three who remain from the 2021-22 season when it suffered by far the worst offensive performance in club history… against Gran Canaria. Axel Julien and Maxime Courby both started and Hugo Benitez came off the bench when Bourg lost 78-49 in Round 4 of that season at Gran Canaria Arena.
That trio was also in uniform when Bourg next met Gran Canaria, in February 2022, and erased a double-digit halftime deficit to win 78-76 on a C.J. Harris jumper with 3 seconds remaining.
Five Gran Canaria players remain from that squad – Albicy, Slaughter, Nicolas Brussino, Miquel Salvo and John Shurna.
Can this season’s Bourg complete the comeback by beating Gran Canaria and vaulting itself to the top of the standings? To do so, it will be relying on several players who had never even competed in the EuroCup by that season, such as forwards Isiaha Mike and Zaccharie Risacher and point guard Jequan Lewis, a mid-season replacement for the injured Benitez.
However, history has shown that Bourg can come back against Gran Canaria. And tonight it will look to do so once again in what would be a historic moment for the French club.