Umana Reyer Venice prevented visiting Gran Canaria from securing a playoff spot when it defeated the Group B leader 77-59 at Palasport Tallercio in a Round 9 make-up game on Tuesday night.
Reyer beats Gran Canaria for third win in a row



Five three-pointers from the Reyer shooters early in the second quarter opened a 35-16 gap that the visitors were unable to recover from. Reyer got its third straight win to improve to 7-5, while Gran Canaria saw its five-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 9-3. Victor Sanders led five Reyer scorers in double-figures with 13 points. Michael Bramos, Andrea De Nicolao and Mitchell Watt followed with 11 apiece and Michele Vitali scored 10 for the winners. Artem Pustovyi paced Gran Canaria with 13 points and ohn Shurna posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.
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Vitali got the hosts going with a three-point play that helped Reyer take an early 7-2 lead behind inside contributions from Jeff Brooks and Watt. Gran Canaria decided to replace its frontcourt to change the trend, but a couple of three-pointers by the home team made the difference even bigger, 13-4. Salvo and Shurna struck back from long range to keep the hosts close, 15-10. Gran Canaria’s turnovers prevented it from completing the rally, as Reyer found a pair of slams by Watt and Martynas Echodas to finish the first quarter comfortably on top, 19-10.
Austin Daye showed up from downtown right after the game resumed to make it a double-digit lead and Julyan Stone followed with another bomb each to raise the difference to 25-12. Even though Gran Canaria seemed to find some momentum in offense, Bramos, Daye and Vitali punished again from deep to soar to 35-16 halfway through the second quarter. Scoring went down on both sides from then on, which proved sufficient for Ryer to maintain a safe cushion. A buzzer-beating layup by Brooks closed the first half with a 41-23 lead for the home team.
Things got even worse for the visitors when Vitali opened fire from behind the arc right after intermission to surpass the 20-point border. Brooks followed with a bucket and Sanders hit another triple that dug it deeper at 49-27. Nothing seemed to work for Gran Canaria, as anytime it succeeded in offense, Reyer counterattacked with even more firepower. Pustovyi scored inside, then Sanders answered with a three that extended the difference to 52-29. Pustovyi kept rocking in the paint, but nobody else joined in until Javi Lopez drilled a three and Dylan Ennis scored from the line to give the visitors some breath and reduce the margin to 54-37. Free throws by Sanders and Echodas stopped Gran Canaria’s reaction and the hosts entered the last period ahead 57-39.
Baskets were few and far between early in the fourth quarter, as only Khalifa Diop and Stone were able to contribute on each side in the first 2 minutes. Diop had to head the bench after committing his fifth foul as did Salvo a minute later. The latter was also called for a technical foul that Vitali converted from the line and Watt followed with a three-point play and a long hook shot to restore a 20-point margin, 65-43, confirming the outcome with 6 minutes remaining.