Herbalife Gran Canaria collected its second straight big victory in Group B of the 7DAYS EuroCup when it knocked off Virtus Segafredo Bologna 100-80 at home on Wednesday. Gran Canaria gained control of the game with a 16-4 run in the fourth quarter to follow up its win last week at Buducnost VOLI Podgorica. The result snapped Virtus’s three-game winning streak.
Gran Canaria shines in blowout of Virtus, 100-80
Dylan Ennis poured in 17 points to pace five scorers in double figures for Gran Canaria, which has won six of its last seven games and is tied for the top spot in Group B with a 6-2 record. AJ Slaughter scored 16 points and dished 9 assists, Chris Kramer and John Shurna both scored 14 points and Miquel Salvo chipped in 10 points in the winning effort. Virtus dropped to 5-3 despite Kyle Weems scoring 17 points. Marco Belinelli added 16 points, Milos Teodosic tallied 15 points and 13 assists, Alessandro Pajola scored 11 and Mam Jaiteh 10 points. It was the second time in the last three games that Virtus gave up 100 points, having beaten Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana 101-104 on the road in Round 6.
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Pajola’s three-pointer started the game for Virtus with Kramer converting a layup at the other end. Teosodic followed with a three-pointer and layup of his own and the visitors grabbed a 2-10 lead early on. Shurna drained back-to-back three-pointers and Slaughter’s triple knotted the game 13-13. Amar Alibegovic connected twice from deep as well for Virtus, which led 21-24. The hosts scored the final 5 points of the first quarter including a third Shurna triple to make it 26-24 after 10 minutes.
Weems started the second quarter with a layup to even the game again. Gran Canaria got defensive stops, allowing just 3 Virtus free throws, and Salvo provided a major boost with a three-point play and triple in a 13-3 run to move ahead 39-29. Pajola finally scored Virtus’s first basket in more than 5 minutes with a three-pointer and Teodosic added a layup in a 0-7 spurt to pull within 39-36. Teodosic connected from deep again and Weems evened the game at 45-45. Ennis raced in for a layup to give Gran Canaria a 47-45 lead at the break.
Virtus scored the first 4 points of the second half to reclaim the lead only to see Kramer drain a triple and put Gran Canaria up 50-49. Another wave of three-pointers came, Teodosic and Pajola for the visitors and Nicolas Brussino, Slaughter and Shurna for Gran Canaria for a 62-57 lead. Belinelli joined the three-point party with back-to-back triples as Virtus went up 62-65. The back and forth continued and Gran Canaria closed the third quarter with the final 9 points, including a steal and dunk by Ennis and a triple from Slaughter for a 71-65 cushion after 30 minutes.
The barrage from long range continued to start the final frame with Weems and Ennis connecting on triples and Salvo’s hook shot extending the cushion to 78-68 with less than 8 minutes to play. Ennis’s triple had Gran Canaria up 87-72 with 5 minutes remaining. Belinelli was not done and made back-to-back triples to bring Virtus within 87-78. But Gran Canaria could not be stopped and after an Ennis three-pointer and layup, the margin was 97-80 with under 3 minutes left and the hosts cruised the rest of the way.