His performance marked the 8th most points by a player on perfect shooting in EuroCup history
Marko Pecarski pulled off perfect scoring display in first Lietkabelis victory
In a recent interview, Marko Pecarski stressed that his objective this season is to demonstrate that he boasts the virtues to dominate at this level. A few days later, the 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys big man delivered on the court to lead his team to an impressive 84-80 victory over Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse. Despite Lietkabelis losing its first four games and Bourg coming into Tuesday’s duel undefeated, the Lithuanian side managed to end their losing streak, with Pecarski playing a key role in this win at the Kalnapilio Arena.
“I want to show that I'm also a dominant big man at this level,” Pecarski told David Hein in an interview for this website last week. “This season I want to play my game, to do all the stuff that I do great but at even a higher level. And also the stuff that are not my strengths, I want to show that I can improve on them. I have a lot to show at this level. It's simple. I don't want to talk about stats or anything, but I can play my game and perform great at this level.”
Yet, we need to talk about Pecarski’s stats against Bourg. The 24-year-old center ended the game with a perfect 8-for-8 shooting from inside, 1-for-1 from behind the arc and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. Having scored 22 points without missing a single shot, this is the eighth-best perfect shooting performance ever in the EuroCup.
He also collected 8 rebounds, as well as 1 assist and 1 block for a PIR of 34.
“I do what I can do to help my team win,” Pecarski told EuroLeague TV after the game. “Today it was like that. Some other game it will be someone else. I think we are becoming a good team and now things are starting to get positive for us.”
Game Videos
Pecarski also produced some crucial plays in the closing quarter to inspire Lietkabelis to victory. Andrija Stipanovic netted two straight buckets to open the fourth and gave the host a 65-56 lead. The visitors bounced back and responded with a 0-6 run and with the score at 67-62, but Pecarski pulled off a monster block on Xavier Castaneda, who recorded a game-high 23 points, to shift the momentum back to the hosts.
A triple from Georgios Kalaitzakis gave Lietkabelis a 75-64 cushion with 3 and a half minutes to go, but Bourg wouldn’t give up and a few trips to the free-throw line made it a one-possession game, 78-77, with less than a minute remaining. Enter Pecarski, who netted a buzzer-beating dagger from inside the arc to extend Lietkabelis’s lead to 80-77 with 0:23 left on the clock. Bourg didn’t manage to get a basket in the following possession and a couple of free throws from Kalaitzakis secured Lietkabelis’s first win of the season.
Coming up next for Lietkabelis is a trip to Spain to face Valencia Basket – one of the only two teams that managed to win all their first four games along with Bourg. With Pecarski firing on all cylinders, Lietkabelis could pull off another upset, this time on Spanish soil.