Mavrokefalidis, Mitchell make history in overtime thriller in Athens

In what will surely go down as one of the most exciting opening nights in Eurocup history, Loukas Mavrokefalidis of AEK Athens and Tony Mitchell Krasny Oktyabr Volgograd attacked the record books in a 94-96 overtime road win for Oktyabr. Mavrokefalidis tied the Eurocup record for performance index rating, Mitchell scored the most points ever by a player in his Eurocup debut and together they combined for the most points by two players in a single Eurocup game. Mavrokefalidis amassed 42 points with just 6 missed shots, plus 9 rebounds and 4 steals in compiling a performance index rating of 55. That tied the all-time competition record for index rating, which was originally set by Priest Lauderdale of Lukoil Academic in a triple overtime win over KK Zagreb in November 2003. Mavrokefalidis’s scoring total is also good for the fourth-highest scoring night ever in the Eurocup. The record is 49, set by Randy Duck of Brighton in January 2004.

Mitchell finished with 39 points and 8 rebounds. His scoring effort set a Eurocup record for a player’s debut game. The previous mark was 37, set by Marko Marinovic for BC Reflex against Turk Telekom in November 2009. Combined, Mavrokefalidis and Mitchell collected 81 points, which is the most since Bobby Brown of ALBA Berlin and Lance Williams of KK Bosna combined for 78 after a quadruple-overtime outing in December 2007.