Mitch Creek became just the seventh player to score 40 points in a EuroCup game
Creek’s night for the ages highlights record-breaking Cluj win over Neptunas
Report partita
3 Minuto di lettura
Regular Season
Round 11 of 18
Regular Season
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U-BT Cluj-NapocaUBT
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Neptunas KlaipedaNEP
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Overview
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What a night for Mitch Creek and U-BT Cluj-Napoca as the Australian forward became just the seventh player to score 40 points in a BKT EuroCup game and Cluj set several club records en route to a crucial home victory.
Cluj set club records for the most points in a first quarter (38 points), a half (68), after three quarters (92) and in a 40-minute game with its 118-97 win over Neptunas Klaipeda. Cluj just missed its all-time single-game mark, which was 120 points in an overtime game in 2023-24. The game was also massively important in the Group A dynamics, where both teams came into the contest with 5-5 records.
“I really enjoyed being the coach of this team in this game. We had a great game. Everything started with our mindset on defense. We made a statement from the beginning,” said Cluj head coach Mihai Silvasan, whose team raced ahead 34-9 and led 38-18 after 10 minutes.
“I am really proud of how we played today. We need to take it as an example from the intensity point of view. Of course, we won’t be able to score 118 points each game, but the intensity on defense needs to be there. It was a great night for us. We will enjoy it.”
Cluj led by 30 points just before halftime and Neptunas tried its best to make things interesting. The visitors fought back and trimmed the gap to 10 points with 8 minutes to go, but Creek answered with some of the big plays he was making all night.
Cluj improved to 6-5 as it has alternated between wins and losses in the last seven games. Creek made a spectacular 14 of 15 field goals - including 4 of 4 from long range - and 8 of 10 free throws to finish with 40 points. He also chipped in 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 7 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 43.
“They go in sometimes. They don’t go in sometimes. It’s basketball. I trust myself to make plays at a high level,” said Creek, who eclipsed his previous best marks of 27 points and 35 PIR.
“Some nights you have the feeling that just everything is going in. It doesn’t matter if it’s a silly and-one you shouldn’t make. It doesn’t matter, they just all fall.”
Creek reached the 40-point mark on a long three-pointer with 2 minutes left in the game to make it a 20-point lead again. The 33-year-old said when he was on 37 points, Silvasan asked if he wanted to stay in the game.
“Coach came up to me and asked if I want to try and score 3 more points or want to come out. I said I just want to play 1 more minute so I know we won this game,” said Creek.
The Australian became just the seventh player to score 40 points in a EuroCup game alongside Randy Duck (49 points, 2003-04), Bobby Brown (44, 2007-08), Mire Chatman (43, 2010-11), Loukas Mavrokefaldis (42, 2015-16), John Roberson (42, 2017-18) and Scottie Wilbekin (41, 2017-18).
About that final three-pointer, Creek said: “I was like everything is going in, I might as well try. It went in. 40 is just a number, a win is more important.”
Creek does meditation before each game and tells himself one thing he wants to get out of today.
“Today I said, I want to have fun. I want to appreciate what I am doing. I just tried to do that tonight,” said Creek, who also set new club records for most points and PIR.
Besides Creek, Nighael Ceaser scored 19 points, Fatts Russell had 16 points, Iverson Molinar chipped in 15 points and 8 assists and Dusan Miletic added 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Neptunas will try to forget this game as soon as possible, especially the first quarter, as the team fell to 5-6 and saw its two-game winning streak snapped.
“For the first two quarters, we didn’t show up and when we tried to play something that looks like basketball, it was too late,” said Coach Gediminas Petrauskas.
“I apologize to our fans who traveled such a long way to support us and to the people who watched on TV. We didn’t come to the game. Allowing 38 points is unacceptable and I take all the blame. I didn’t prepare the team for this game. The second half was much much better, but the first quarter was still too much of a punch for us and we could not recover.”
Rihards Lomazs scored 20 points in the loss, Mindaugas Girdziunas added 19 points and Arnas Velicka tallied 17 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in the loss.
But this night belonged to Creek and Cluj.
