By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Gran Canaria held off a London Lions’ comeback effort from down 13 to get a 60 – 57 win on the road and remain the team with the best record in EuroCup. The Spanish side, now 10-2, also became the first squad to mathematically clinch a spot in the playoffs.
John Shurna scored 13 points, Nicolas Brussino dropped 11 points and AJ Slaughter added 11 points from Gran Canaria. Their team held multiple 13-point leads in the game and was up 35 -48 near the end of the third period, when the Lions toughened their defense and began approaching closer and closer.
A 7-0 run in crunch time, brought the Lions at a shooting distance, 57 – 58 with five seconds to play. Brussino went 2-2 from the line and, on the other end, Sam Dekker’s 3-point attempt from deep went out.
Dekker was the leading scorer in the game with 18 points, while grabbing six rebounds. Kostas Koufos posted 15 plus 11 boards for the Lions that are now 5-7 in Group B.
An outstanding game took place in Tel Aviv where Hapoel (8-4) beat Turk Telekom 84 – 82 thanks to Xavier Munford’s three-pointer. The versatile point guard did it all tonight. He scored 33 points while hitting seven three-pointers on eight attempts. Six of his 33 points came in the crucial last two minutes, stopping Turk Telekom’s (8-4) attempt from stealing the game. The only other player that scored in double digits was Jaylen Hoard with 17 points. On the other side, Axel Bouteille scored 27 points, Jerian Grant had 24 points, followed by 13 points from Tony Taylor.
.@xaviermunford calls it GAME😱@HapoelTLVBC #7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/v843PxHlYf
— 7DAYS EuroCup (@EuroCup) January 24, 2023
The trio of Derek Willis (19 points), Mitchell Watt (16 points) and Marco Spissu (15 points, eight assists) pushed Reyer Venezia past Cluj Napoca 95 – 90. The hosts’ solid shooting from the perimeter (12-21 3-pointers) made the difference as the Italian team now climbed to 7-5 and is flirting with the homecourt advantage.
Cluj-Napoca dropped to 4-8 and below the qualification zone. Andrija Stipanovic scored a team-high 15 points for the Romanian side.