A victory of throne, in addition to start to finish. This is how Gran Canaria executed its victory this afternoon over Valencia Basket, whose final comeback attempt fell too short. With Shurna and Khalifa Diop as stilettos, the island formation made good the defeat of Ucam Murcia to access eighth place in a classification in which the Peñarroya players lose camber with respect to Joventut.
The great star of the game was, without a doubt, John Shurna, a true basketball hurricane in the first quarter. With nine of his points, 29 total, almost consecutive, Gran Canaria took its first important advantage: 12-4. Van Rossom and Dubljevic scored from beyond 6.75 to cut the island team’s escape, whose partial victory at the end of the first quarter was already more than remarkable: 31-23.
The defenses, how could it be otherwise, began to rule in the second, and a partial 0-11 in favor of the enraged boys from Peñarroya they put things back in their place: 41-40. From then until the end, the scoring pulse between Albicy and Hanlan left a tight 49-47 when both teams rushed to the locker room to face the minutes of rest.
Khalifa Diop’s display in the third period helped cement Gran Canaria’s victory. Unprecedented in the first part, in the third quarter the match was put on by montera. In just ten minutes, the Senegalese center had 13 points, 3 rebounds and an assist. Such was his dominance that of his team’s last 12 points in this quarter, he only scored 9. The other three came from a triple by Chery that began to break the duel: 73-57. The partial in favor of Porfirio Fisac’s team reached 12-0, barely broken by a basket by López-Aróstegui that closed this period with 77-59 in the pavilion’s sky and with a partial of 28-12 to the ultimate dessert.
With just ten minutes to go, Valencia Basket hardly had a chance to get into the game. If a moment ago it was Diop, now it was Shurna who tortured the impassive Levantine defense. Thus, five points from the North American power forward, 29 points already, left an eloquent 82-64 on the scoreboard.
However, the Peñarroya players reacted when everything seemed lost, but not enough. With Pradilla striking inside, a basket by Fernando had cut the difference to a disturbing 89-79, a score that forced Fisac ​​to request time out with little more than two minutes of the game ahead. Life was made even more complicated for the local host, as four free throws by Hanlan put an irreducible Valencia Basket back in the ointment, whose agonizing attempt to come back, in any case perpetrated very late, only reached the final 89-83.
With this victory, the 17th of the course, Gran Canaria is screwed to eighth placesurpassing Ucam Murcia in a victory, who lost against Joventut, a team that precisely surpasses Valencia Basket after this weekend’s matchday.