MONACO: American point guard Mike James grabbed a slice of basketball history on Thursday (Friday in Manila) when he became the leading scorer in the EuroLeague.

SCORING MACHINE Mike James celebrates taking the EuroLeague top scorer title during the EuroLeague basketball match between AS Monaco and Belgrade at the Louis 2 Stadium (Stade Louis 2) in Monaco on Thursday, March 7, 2024. PHOTO BY VALERY HACHE/AFP

The 33-year-old, who plays for Monaco, needed just 12 points in the game against Red Star Belgrade, to surpass the 4,455 points scored by Greek Vasilios Spanoulis between 2005 and 2021.

James, watched by his parents and friends who had traveled over from the US, comfortably achieved his goal before half-time.

By the end of the night, he took his total to 4,464 points as Monaco defeated their Serbian rivals 98-80 for a seventh successive win in the tournament.

"I will be able to savor all of this at the end of my career," said James who has played with 12 clubs in his career across Europe and the NBA.

"I didn't want it to get too emotional, because we had to focus on the victory, otherwise it wouldn't have had the same flavor."

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