By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nigel Hayes-Davis became the first player to score 50 points in a EuroLeague game during Fenerbahce Beko’s 103 – 68 win over bottom-placed ALBA Berlin at home. The American forward broke the record that was previously set by Anadolu Efes guard Shane Larkin in 2019.
Hayes-Davis reached the 50-point mark thanks to a layup with 18 seconds to play. He completed the game with 9-11 2-pointers, 9-16 triples and 5-7 from the free-throw line in barely 30 minutes.
“Right before the game I texted my guys Nate and Jordan and told them that I was feeling a Dejounte Murray game,” Hayes-Davis said after his historic performance. “I didn’t know I was going to score 50, I knew I was going to shoot the ball a lot.”
“He had 0 assists. We need to talk about this a little bit,” joked Fener coach Sarunas Jasikevicius.
Nigel Hayes-Davis says he was feeling a "Dejounte Murray game" before his historic 50-piece pic.twitter.com/mmqq3uuFmS
— Antonis Stroggylakis (@AStroggylakis) March 29, 2024
Hayes-Davis also talked about the help he got from his teammates but also from Fenerbahce’s press officer in order to get the record.
The new scoring king of EuroLeague gave credit where it was due: “But all the credit goes to my teammates. Once I got it going, they were doing a great job finding me – and an even bigger thanks goes to Ilker [Ucer, Fenerbahce’s communications and media relations manager] and the fans because the fans knew the scoring record was 49 and they started yelling at Saras [Jasikevicius] to put me back in. It was a club effort, team effort, and I’m very proud of myself for doing this. Very proud of myself and the work and everything I put in. It’s a great honor.”
Heating up early
Hayes-Davis showed his intentions early with 18 points in the first quarter to help Fener get a 34 – 18 advantage. By the end of the third quarter he had 36 as the hosts had grabbed a 83 – 51 advantage.
Everyone was then mostly paying attention to whether Hayes-Davis will break Larkin’s record.
Johnathan Motley contributed 18 points plus five rebounds for Fenerbahce. Sterling Brown stood out from ALBA with 17 points.