By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Klemen Prepelic was named 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 Round 3 MVP. Earned the award with 45 PIR, the highest among all players this week. The Slovenian guard poured 37 points with 10/16 field goals including 5/9 threes, dished seven assists as well guiding Joventut Badalona to the home win against Tofas Bursa.
Per EuroCup: “Klemen Prepelic made sure that Joventut Badalona kept its perfect home record intact by carrying his team past previously unbeaten Tofas Bursa to an 88-84 come-from-behind victory and, in the process, earning MVP of the Round honors for Top 16 Round 3. Prepelic’s career-high 45 performance index rating was the 7DAYS EuroCup’s best since January 2017. Prepelic also set a club record and a career high by netting 37 points, making 5 of 7 two-pointers, sinking 5 of 9 three-pointers and making all 12 of his free throws, tying the mark for most free throws made without a miss in three years. Prepelic added 7 assists, 2 rebounds and 10 fouls drawn in his performance, which lifted Joventut’s perfect home record to 7-0. In the same game, Tofas veteran swingman Sammy Mejia posted a PIR of 34, the second-best of this round. Mejia had 20 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block and 6 fouls drawn in his team’s loss. the next-best performance belonged to Octavius Ellis of Promitheas Patras, who collected 21 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals for a PIR of 29 in a 68-70 home loss to Umana Reyer Venice. Julian Gamble had 28 PIR, with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks, in Segafredo Virtus Bologna’s 67-73 road win at Dolomiti Energia Trento. Rounding out the list of top performers with a PIR of 26 was Jaleel O’Brien of AS Monaco with 23 points and 3 rebounds in an 80-75 road loss at Rytas Vilnius.
Individual highs: Alex Poythress, Galatasaray, 14 rebounds
Prepelic led all scorers in Top 16 Round 3 with 37 points. Mejia, who played in his first Top 16 game of the season, now tops the Top 16 scoring chart with 20.0 points per game. Alex Poythress of Galatasaray Doga Sigorta Istanbul led all players in this round with 14 rebounds. Rytas big man Martynas Echodas leads the Top 16 with 11.0 rebounds per game. Aaron Craft of Trento and Gary Browne of Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul each had 9 assists in Top 16 Round 3. Virtus playmaker Stefan Markovic, who is EuroCup all-time leader in assists, leads the Top 16 with 7.0 assists per game. Craft and Markovic had 4 steals apiece to lead all players this round. Craft and Melvin Ejim of UNICS Kazan lead the Top 16, averaging 3.0 steals. Virtus big man Gamble had 3 blocks this week. He is also the Top 16 with 1.7 blocks per game.”