Baskonia, Henry tie club records for assists in win over Virtus
One of the keys to Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz's 90-79 victory against Virtus Segafredo Bologna was the way it shared the ball, with Pierria Henry leading the way as the team's conductor.
Henry scored just 3 points on the night, but he was dishing assist after assist, finishing with a joint-club record of 13. Just three players have ever achieved that figure for Baskonia in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague: Elmer Bennett in 2000-01, Marcelinho Huertas in 2010-11, and Shane Larkin in 2016-17. The 13 assists Henry recorded is a personal best, too.
Given that Markus Howard, the team's leading scorer, went down with a back injury in the second quarter, the playmaking of Henry allowed the rest of the Baskonia players to stay involved and engaged on the offensive end. It was a historic night for Henry, but Darius Thompson also helped out, ending the game with 9 assists.
"It's a blessing to be recognized and be even associated with some great names and people like that and to be a part of Baskonia history," Henry said in his post-game interview. "It's a blessing, it's amazing. I've got to salute my teammates for that, I couldn’t have done it without them. At the end of the day, they did all the hard work; I just tried to put the ball in their hands and, when they're hot, give them what they what asked for and let them do the rest. This record is for them."
For Baskonia as a whole, it tied its club record for assists in a game with 31. The last time that it managed to record this number was on March 8, 2019, when Huertas and Johannes Voigtmann had 9 assists apiece in a 104-86 win over Khimki Moscow Region. This time, Henry and Thompson were the providers, with Baskonia improving to 10-5 in the standings as a result of its fifth win in a row.