The Lietkabelis forward tied a club record for scoring and made the biggest shots to lift his team to a come-from-behind overtime win.
Gediminas Orelik did 'his job' on a record-setting night
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It was a performance for the ages. Or at least it felt like such.
On Tuesday night, Gediminas Orelik almost single-handedly shot 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys to a thrilling come-from-behind 93-86 overtime win over Turk Telekom Ankara.
"Orelik is a player", Lietkabelis head coach Nenad Canak simply explained after a victory. "That means he is a basketball player, who knows everything."
The 33-year-old veteran, who made his EuroCup debut back in the 2009-10 season, earned this praise from his head coach after the best scoring night of his career. However, the spectacular fashion in which Orelik did it, and the timing of the shots he made, is what made it so memorable.
Orelik scored 14 of his career-best 31 points in the final 92 seconds of regulation, and overtime. He achieved it by knocking down a career-high 8 three-pointers.
"Did I make 8? ", Orelik asked with a smile in a post-game interview. "I did not know, I was just shooting my shots and they were falling in. I am happy for that, It is my job to make shots."
It was the most three-pointers made by a player in a single game since Josh Adams nailed 10 for Virtus Segafredo Bologna on December 22, 2020. Orelik also tied a club record in scoring, but was 1 three-pointer shy of the club record.
Liektabelis trailed 62-77 with 6:55 to go in the fourth quarter when Orelik made a pair of free throws. He did not score another point until 1:32 left in regulation, with his team down 75-86.
But he hit back-to-back-to-back triples in exactly 60 seconds, his fifth, sixth and seventh three-pointer, before Donatas Sebeckis sent the game to overtime with a last-second basket.
In the extra session, there were no baskets for the opening 4 minutes and 23 seconds before, you guessed it, Orelik nailed his eighth three-pointer. He followed it up with a runner in the paint, his only two-point shot of the night, to seal the deal. Turk Telekom became the first team in competition history that failed to score in overtime, and huge celebrations at the Kalnapilio Arena could start.
"That was a crazy game", Orelik said. "In overtime, I saw we have emotions, but the energy was dead. We gave everything today."
Orelik has now scored in double-digits and made multiple three-pointers in each of the seven games this season. Averaging 3.9 triples per game, he is knocking them down at an impressive 45.0% accuracy.
All these numbers would matter a lot less if Lietkabelis did not pull out a win on Tuesday night. But now, with a 3-4 record and the winners of two straight, the red-hot Orelik and his teammates are very much alive, and on the way up, in the race for the playoffs.