Zoran Planinic sets Top 16 assist mark

Zoran Planinic continued his brilliant season by setting a new Euroleague Top 16 single-game assists record with 13 in BC Khimki Moscow Region’s 82-87 loss against Olympiacos Piraeus on Friday. The previous mark was 12, held by three players. Planinic’s 12th assist came on a pass to Pettero Koponen for a three-pointer in transition to pull Khimki within 2 with just under three minutes left. He dished his record-setting 13th on a three-pointer to Kresimir Loncar with 13 seconds left. Planinic also scored 17 in the game. He leads the Euroleague in assists this season with 6.3 per game. The record was shared by Omar Cook, who did so twice, each time with a different team – once for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan last season and once for Valencia in 2011 – Theo Papaloukas with Olympiacos in 2008 and Vrbica Stefanov with Ulker in 2006. The Euroleague single-game assist mark belongs to John Linehan, who dished 15 for SLUC Nancy in a regular season game against Fenerbahce Ulker last season.