105-81: Gran Canaria falls in Valencia and knows its relegation after Casademont’s comeback

Valencia Basket had no mercy on Dreamland Gran Canaria and signed a resounding 105-81 victory in a night of mixed emotions at the Roig Arena.

Pedro Martínez’s team fulfilled with authority, driven by the best scoring performance of Omari Moore in the Endesa League and by the total impact of Jaime Pradilla, while the Canary Islands team experienced a cruel outcome: after losing in Valencia, they were left pending the Río Breogán-Casademont Zaragoza and ended up certifying their relegation to Primera FEB after the historic red comeback culminated with Marco Spissu’s triple.

The match started with a Dreamland Gran Canaria showing personality in the face of the challenge ahead: beating an entire Valencia team depending on itself to ensure permanence. After the first minutes of scoring and an equal score, the Taronja went up a gear led by Omari Moore, in a set that Álvaro Cárdenas took advantage of to score his first points with Valencia. A solid Neal Sako in the paint, with six points in the first quarter, closed the period at 26-18.

The French center was responsible for establishing, in the second quarter, the first double-digit advantage (28-18). And, from there, Valencia already opened a gap that could not be closed. Moore, very active in front of the basket, and a daring Cárdenas made it 43-25 after a bloody 17-7 run in six minutes. Granca’s defense continued to leak and Pedro Martínez’s men, without too many tricks, went into the break with a comfortable 52-33 lead.

The restart continued under the leadership of Brancou Badio, who had already left great sparks in the first half, to put the +20 with complete ease. It was difficult for Granca to concede three baskets from the locals for every one they scored and, in that sense, Badio was one of the big culprits. The Senegalese added 16 points in just 12 minutes on the court. With the score at 80-53 at the end of the third quarter, a difference of 27 points, the game was definitively closed. In the last period, with ‘Che’ García unsuccessfully asking for attitude and rhythm from his team, Valencia tried to rotate their less common players and, even so, reached a 33-point difference thanks to two consecutive triples by Kameron Taylor.