Cleveland Melvin scored 24 points in the first half alone as the Polski Cukier Start Lublin routed Sigal Prishtina 89-69 on Wednesday, December 21, at the Centrum Rekreacyjno Sportowe in Zielona Gora, Poland.
Players of the game
December 21 is the birthday of basketball.
On this day in 1891 James Naismith invented the game we love.
Cleveland Melvin showed his love for the game by setting a new EWBL scoring record.
A former DePaul star scored 24 of his 30 points in the first half.
He made 11-of-18 field goal attempts, including a 3-of-5 effort from the three point line, and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Melvin is well known to the local fans, as this is his fifth season in the PKL.
He represented MKS Dabrowa Gornicza (2018-2019) and King Szczecin (2019-2021) before arriving to the student city of Lublin.
Klāvs Čavars had a perfect first half too.
Latvian center scored 10 quick points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and equally perfect 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Lublin newcomer Troy Barnies added 11 points.
A former Maine big man had a busy 2022 as he moved from the frontline city of Mykolaiv to the Port of Parnu and recently to Lublin.
Parnu won the maiden Estonian title this year.
Roman Szymanski, another Start big man, scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Dayshon Hassan Smith (Dayton) registered a game high nine dimes.
Derrick Wilson led Sigal Prishtina with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting inside the three point line.
Marquette standout dished out six assists.
Rezart Memed scored 14 points before he was fouled out.
A young Macedonian guard made 4-of-10 shots from the deep.
Dustin Thomas scored in double figures for the second consecutive day.
Arkansas star posted 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and one block.
Key stats
Cleveland Melvin and Klāvs Čavars outscored Sigal Prishtina in the first half 34-33.
Polski Cukier Start Lublin players shoot the lights out before the halftime break 55-33.
They made 75% of shots from the two point line (15/20) and 60% from the three point line (6/10).
Lublin`s lead never exceeded 25 points but Artur Gronek`s team remained in full control.
Sigal Prishtina never got closer by 17 points.
Game notes
Dardan Berisha got a day-off after his memorable 28 points performance on Tuesday.
Sigal Prishtina used a seven man rotation.
Polski Cukier Start Lublin improved to 2-0 and topped the Group A.
ENBL records, as of December, 2022
Points
Cleveland Melvin 30 December 21, 2022, Prishtina 69-89 Lublin
Tyler Bey 28 November 29, 2022, Ostrow 92-76 Ness Ziona
Dardan Berisha 28 December 20, 2022, Zielona Gora 75-89 Prishtina
Jānis Kaufmanis 27 February 2, 2022, Valmiera 85-92 Šiauliai
STANDINGS, as of December 21, 2022
Group A
Polski Cukier Start Lublin 2-0 (+35)
Budivelnyk Kyiv 2-0 (+34)
KB Sigal Prishtina 1-3 (-40)
Zastal Zielona Gora 1-2 (-20)
Kalev/Cramo 1-1 (+6)
TalTech Optibet 0-1 (-15)
Šiauliai 0-0
Tie-breaker: Kalev/Cramo 1-1, +6; Sigal Prishtina 1-1, +3; Zastal Zielona Gora 1-1, -9.
SCHEDULE (local time in Poland, GMT+2h)
Tuesday, December 20
Zastal Zielona Gora 75–89 KB Sigal Prishtina
Wednesday, December 21
KB Sigal Prishtina 69–89 Polski Cukier Start Lublin
Thursday, December 22
18:30 Polski Cukier Start Lublin – Zastal Zielona Gora