By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Gran Canaria held off a comeback attempt by Hapoel Jerusalem in the fourth period to win 92 – 89 on the road and advance to the EuroCup semifinals. The Spanish team will face Bahcesehir in the best-of-three series with the latter having homecourt advantage.
Caleb Homesley led Gran Canaria with 21 points while delivering crucial plays down the stretch. He hit his first triple after six misses to put his team up 79 – 84 with 1:58 remaining and scored a tough bucket for the 84 – 88.
After Khadeen Carrington drained the 3-pointer for the 89 – 90 with 10 seconds remaining, Homesley made 2-2 free throws. On the other end, Carrington missed from beyond the arc and Hapoel bid farewell to the competition this season as Gran Canaria celebrated the qualification to the semifinal stage.
Carrington finished with 20 points and five rebounds while Jared Harper poured 24 points (13-15 free throws) and dished out five assists for Hapoel. His team led 44 – 42 at halftime but Gran Canaria dominated the third period to enter the final quarter up 58 – 70.
Gran Canaria led 62 – 75 with 7:40 to play but Hapoel erased most of that margin to approach 79 – 81, 3:25 before the end of the quarter. That was the closest the Israeli side got though as their opponents always had a response to retain an advantage.
Joe Tomasson contributed 15 points for Gran Canaria. Mike Tobey had 14 points plus eight rebounds.
Photo: EuroCup Basketball