7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season Round 5 is in the books, and it featured several big and impactful performances by seasoned veterans. Here are some of them.
Round 5 roll call: Veterans impact big wins
Zubcic impresses for impressive London Lions
Arguably the most impressive win in Round 5 was that of London Lions, a 28-point drubbing on the road against Veolia Hamburg Lions. One of the team's many impressive performances was the one by veteran forward Tomislav Zubcic, who had a game-high 22 points in 26 minutes. That is tied for the second-best scoring performance in Zubcic's seventh season in the competition. He connected on 4 of 6 two- and three-pointers, the latter being his season-best. Zubcic's performance also included 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals for a performance index rating of 26.
Gegic was everywhere for Paris
Paris Basketball is three for three in EuroCup road games. The team from the French capital kept its perfect away record intact with a dramatic 74-77 win at Buducnost VOLI Podgorica. The key moment in the game was a 0-14 fourth-quarter run, which turned a 65-55 deficit into a four-point Paris lead. Amar Gegic was the key facilitator in that run, with a pair of steals that led to easy fastbreak layups, one of which was his own. Gegic scored 5 points during that key run, but also assisted for Dustin Sleva's corner triple and Ismael Kamagate's big dunk. Gegic finished the game with 11 points, second-most in his career, while also setting new career highs in rebounds (6), assists (4) and steals (2).
Shurna's fine shooting
John Shurna had one of the finest shooting performances of his EuroCup career in the first half of Gran Canaria's win over Hapoel Tel Aviv. Shurna netted 16 of his team-high 18 points in the first half. He was the main reason that Gran Canaria played and shot the ball with unbelievable confidence and built a 17-point lead with 2 minutes to go in the first half. He was 4-for-5 from long range and 2-for-3 on two-pointers at that point. Hapoel did come back and Gran Canaria need to rally from 8 points down in the final 5 minutes to win. Shurna scored only another baseline jumper in the second half, but it came in the key moment, during his team's final 12-2 run to win the game.
Clemmons ties career-high in assists
Frutti Extra Bursaspor got back on the winning track with a road win over the previously unbeaten Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse, and Anthony Clemmons did a great job orchestrating Bursaspor's offense. Clemmons finished the game tying his career-high with 8 assists, half of which he dished in the fourth quarter. In 34 minutes on the floor, he scored 18 points, making all 3 of his two-point shots and also sinking 3 of 9 three-pointers.
Birgander's defensive party
Simon Birgander had his best game of the season and arguably one of the most complete ones of his career in Joventut Badalona's 14-point win at ratiopharm Ulm. Birgander had 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, pulled down 10 rebounds, including 8 on the defensive end, and delivered a career-high 5 blocks, one shy of Joventut's club record. He did all of that in just 18 minutes on the floor as Joventut's defense held Ulm to just 54 points. Birgander now has 10 blocked shots in the last three games, which catapulted him into a tie for the league lead in that category with an average of 2.2.
Vintage Watt
Mitchell Watt had another fine performance in what was the third straight win for Umana Reyer Venice, this time against the visiting 7-Bet Lietkabelis Panevezys. Watt played 31 minutes and scored a team-high 19 points, tied for his season best as he made 6 of 12 two-point shots. Watt also pulled down 8 rebounds and go to the free throw line 9 times, making 7 foul shots, also all his season-best marks. Watt was instrumental in Reyer's win with a +15 plus-minus in the 74-71 victory.
Morris was Round 5’s scoring leader
On the other side in that same game, Lietkabelis guard Jamel Morris netted 25 points, more than any other player in Round 5. It is also the most points scored by a Lietkabelis player this season, a mark that Morris has improved upon in each of the last three games. He scored 21 points in Round 3, then 24 points in Round 4 before dropping 25 on Tuesday, improving his season average to 18.4 points. In doing so, he also set a club record by going perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.