A stellar performance in a convincing win paved the way for Justin Cobbs of Buducnost VOLI Podgorica to earn MVP honors for Round 5 of the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season.
Round 5 MVP: Justin Cobbs, Buducnost
Awards
3 Mins read
Cobbs went off for a career-high PIR of 44 in leading short-handed Buducnost to a 91-60 rout of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana. He scored 33 points with only 3 missed shots. Cobbs was perfect from downtown with 3 three-pointers and shot 12 for 12 from the free-throw line. He added 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and 5 fouls drawn. Cobbs’s PIR of 44 was the highest PIR for a Buducnost player since 2004 and the club's second-best mark in EuroCup history. Ivan Koljevic had a PIR of 46 against PAOK Thessaloniki on December 7, 2004. Vince Hunter of Boulogne Metropolitans 92 had the second-highest PIR of the round in an 84-94 victory over Hamburg Towers. The big man collected 26 points on 12-of-14 two-point shooting plus 14 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, a block and 3 fouls drawn for a PIR of 41. Aaron Harrison of Turk Telekom Ankara and Michele Vitali of Umana Reyer Venice each had PIRs of 36 in Round 5. Harrison led Turk Telekom to an 88-85 victory over Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 8 fouls drawn. Vitali had 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 6 fouls drawn in Reyer's loss against Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Kerem Kanter of Slask Wroclaw, with a PIR of 35, rounded out the top five individual performances in Round 5. Kanter posted 17 points and 15 rebounds in defeat.
Individual highs: Alex Perez of Turk Telekom, 11 assists
Cobbs also led Round 5 in scoring with 33 points. Johnathan Motley of Lokomotiv leads the full-season scoring charts with 23.0 points per game. Kanter led all Round 5 rebounders by pulling down 15 against Dolomiti Energia Trento. He now leads the overall standings with 10.2 per night. Alex Perez was the only player to register double digits in assists, dishing 11 against Lokomotiv. Perez is averaging 7.4 assists for the season, which is third in the EuroCup. Codi Miller-McIntyre of MoraBanc Andorra ranks first with 7.6 per night. Cobbs, Kevin Hervey of Virtus, Nikola Radicevic of Lietkabelis Panevezys and Aleksa Avramovic of Partizan NIS Belgrade each collected 4 steals in this round. Avramovic leads the competition with 2.6 steals per game. Zoran Nikolic of Buducnost, Jerai Grant of Promitheas Patras and Johnathan Williams of Trento had 3 blocks apiece in Round 5. Octavius Ellis of Promitheas ranks is the EuroCup leader with 2.2 blocks per game. Six players registered double-doubles in Round 5. They were Hunter, Kanter, Perez (11 points, 11 assists), Johnathan Williams (17 points, 10 rebounds), Alan Williams (12 points, 10 rebounds) of Lokomotiv and Alen Smailagic (13 points, 12 rebounds) of Partizan.