Marek Blazevic and Andrew Andrews combined for 52 points in the win
Wolves upset Gran Canaria, 88-76, in important victory in playoff race
Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius picked up a crucial victory in its fight for the playoffs by fighting off Dreamland Gran Canaria 88-76 to snap a two-game losing streak. Wolves bent but did not break, seeing the guests wipe away a 14-point deficit, but the Lithuanian side never trailed and finished the game off for good with a 12-2 late run. Wolves improved to 8-8 after losing five of its last seven games. Gran Canaria fell to 10-6 after its fourth loss in the last five games.
Marek Blazevic scored a career-high 27 points and Andrew Andrews had 25 points to make up for the team’s leading scorer Anthony Cowan scoring just 7 points, though he did dish out 10 assists. Pierre Pelos had 22 points and Caleb Homesley added 20 points for Gran Canaria, which lost Mike Tobey and Carlos Alocen to injuries in the game.
Game Videos
Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic was forced to change his rotation already in the first minute as both Tobey and Joe Thomasson limped off the court just 58 seconds into the game with lower leg issues. The hosts went ahead 9-0 while Gran Canaria missed its first six shots before finally scoring after almost 5 minutes. Wolves twice pushed the lead to 11 points at 18-7, and it was 22-12 before Homesley had a three-point play and triple to make it 22-18 after 10 minutes.
Massamba Diop came on and trimmed the gap to 22-20 to start the second quarter. Then Andrews started taking over with 12 points as the hosts led 34-24. During that stretch, Gran Canaria had another injury woe as Alocen went down with a right knee injury – though Thomasson did come back on for Alocen. Andrews buried his third triple and Blazevic pushed the gap to 11 points, 39-28. The score was 42-33 at halftime.
Early in the second half, Wolves got a four-point play from Matas Jogela and the cushion grew to 14 points at 48-34. Blazevic continued his great game with three baskets as it was still 52-38. Gran Canaria responded with the next six points, but Wolves kept scoring and the advantage fluctuated between eight and 12 points until Mehdy Ngouama’s three-pointer to make it 60-55. It was 62-55 after 30 minutes.
Pelos had a strong start to the fourth quarter with seven points and Gran Canaria knotted the game 64-64. Cowan made a free throw for his first point of the night at the 7:33 minute mark, and he added a steal and layup less than a minute later to make it 69-64. The Spanish side evened the game at 69-69 and 71-71 before Wolves blew the game open with a 12-2 run to lead 83-73 with 98 seconds left.