Last Wednesday night, the EuroCup was about to be played with two more games to finish the 5th week of the second round.

Virtus played in Estonia while Dijon traveled to Girona. Nothing exceptional that supposes to drag any special attention, right? Well, wrong. Europe was blessed by one of the best individual performances in years.

Those of you who follow already know about Fernando San Emeterio's deeds, but just in case you blinked you are welcome to check the boxscore, in which he made 10 consecutive three-pointers on his way to a 39-point performance.

San Emeterio is the local shooting guard / small forward of Spanish powerhouse Akasvayu Girona. On Wednesday night he gave all the reasons in the world to focus eyes on him more than on anyone else who bounced a ball. His performance is certainly nothing you see on any given day.

Wait. Pause. Background first.

		San Emeterio teamed with Rudy Fernandez in Spain's youth program.

He is 198 cm. He was born in 1984. San Emeterio was never the big star of the U18 and U20 National Teams of Spain. Rudy Fernandez (born 1985) was the big star, but on the same team there was also Marc Gasol (Brother of…), Jan Martin (the son of legendary late Fernando Martin), and the Urtasun brothers. San Emeterio was a starter, a good player, had an important role on those teams, but never was the spearhead.

He grew up in Valladolid and when he was 17 he had already made his debut with the senior team in the ACB, where they first used him as a point guard. For four years in a row he showed improvement, until at the age of 20 his averages in one of the top leagues in Europe were 9.4 ppg and 3.6 rpg. The last season was his final one with his home team and despite a slight fall in the numbers, he received a phone call during the summer which would change the route of his career. The General Manager of Girona, Antonio Maceiras, spotted the talent and wanted to bring the young prospect’s skills to the next level. In a big team.

For years he was considered a good potential to become what people define a "solid player", but nothing much more. Not an NBA draft prospect or someone you think would burn the nets in the top teams of Europe twice a week. He is athletic, but not extremely. He possesses many offensive skills, but is not consistent enough. He’s a good defender and always a great-great rebounder, but not the type that will take your breath away.

In Girona he upgraded his game to a level few believed possible. In a club with such big names (McDonald, Gasol, Marinovic, Fucka, Salenga, Thornton, Middleton, Bagaric, etc…) he's one of the key and most contributing players. This season his averages in the ACB are 10.8 ppg on 57% 2FG and 4.3 rpg. Only McDonald and Marinovic score more. In the EuroCup, his averages before last Wednesday were 9.4 ppg and 3.1 rpg. Oh yeah, in ACB he averaged 32% from beyond the arc with a little less than one three-pointer per game. Only twice did he score more than a single three pointer and even then it was two and three times.

Which takes us back to Wednesday night. San Emeterio had an exceptional night earlier this season when he hit 4-of-4 from three point land against the Israeli side Rishon LeZion in the first round of the EuroCup. But that could have been thought of as a "lucky night" since he's not considered a huge long distance shooter. Not anymore. Not since Wednesday night.

History

We don't hear every week about a player who's making 10 three-point shots in one game, but it's certainly not a once-in-a-decade event. A quick scan shows at least nine other episodes in the last years with the same story, and probably there were more. Saulius Stombergas made 9-of-9 in the 2001 Euroleague semi-finals (the record in the Greek league is nine as well). In Spain the great Oscar Schmidt holds the record with 11, and in Italy he did that twice more, and added two performances of 12, which weren't enough to cap Mike McGee's record of 13 from 1989. All those will have to sit and wait here. This is just about recent double-digits figures. No more.

Above them all is Terrell McIntyre. The short US guard, who's playing this season for Montepaschi Siena, spent the previous season with the Italian side Reggio Emilia. He had some great displays of 4-of-10 (three times), 6-of-10 (only twice) and vs. Climamio Bologna he stopped only after 7-of-11. But the record was set on the other side of town. When Reggio faced the other club of Bologna, McIntyre  had an amazing show with 10-of-10 from beyond the arch.

		Teemu Rannikko made 10-of-12 threes while with Olimpija.

Back to this season. Donatas Slanina, the Lithuanian sharp-shooter of Polish champ Prokom Sopot, was in a zone himself. In a crucial game against ASCO Slask Wroclaw he shot an astonishing 10-of-13 from long range, without any shot from close range. He added a perfect 5-of-5 from the line and Prokom won by…one point.

One more visit to the 2005/06 season takes us to Teemu Rannikko, the Finnish guard of Olimpija Ljubljana. In an Adriatic League game on the road against KK Zagreb he was 7-of-7 from three-point range by halftime. He finished 10-of-12 for the evening. Olimpija won easily 94-81 and Rannikko had 38 points.

Legend says that Gert Kullamae once made 96/100 from long range in practice. The cold fact says the Estonian shooter had one of the best handles in Europe in the last 15 years. When he played in Germany for Bamberg he hit 10-of-14 on Ural Great's account. It was back in the 03/04 EuropeLeague season and Bamberg, like Prokom, barely won, 80-78. One of those three pointers tuned out to be very decisive…

Back in Italy and now we take one step higher above the 10 made shots. Luke Recker travels between Italy and Spain for the past four years. Every summer he makes a change, but in his first season overseas he played in Italy for Roseto. Just like McIntyre he too had a hot hand at the Paladozza, the home court of Climamio (back then Skipper) Bologna. Recker had an open ticket to shoot that night and he took no less than 20 shots from the known range. 11 of those shots went in, which makes a good shooting percentage the bottom line. He took no shots from two-point range, but added two free throws in two attempts from the line. That wasn't enough as Roseto lost 91-89. This time he was one three point shot short…

Moving to France we meet Eric Micoud who played for Racing Paris in 2002/03 and in a road game at Roanne he exploded with 11-of-15 in addition to 1-of-1 from two-point range and 2-of-3 from the line. That didn't help Paris enough, as Roanne finished the game with a team total of only six three pointers but enough to win 77-74.

Almost last on the list is Fred Warrick, a shooting guard who spend several seasons in the Czech league but nowadays is in Russia. In the 04/05 season he was the best scorer of FIBA Europe's Challenge Cup, and on the way to this title he had a great game. His club Mlekarna Kunin traveled Denmark to face the Bakken Bears and lost 100-95 although Warrick had 11-of-16 from three-point land. His 1-of-8 from two-point range stood in Kunin's way to the win.

Last and certainly not least is one of the greatest unknown shooters of Europe in recent years. Czech shooter Pavel Milos spent his entire career in the local league of the Czech Republic despite some attempts to go abroad. His handle is lethal and when he's on fire, there's certainly no stopping him. He's the only player known, well, other than Oscar Schmidt, who showed such a rare performance more than once, both while playing for Sparta Prague. In the 2003/04 season he set the first record making 10-of-18 from long distance (his opponents as a team shot 5-from-18 from the same range). The following season he took another step up, well, three steps up to be more accurate, and set an amazing performance to remember – 13-of-20.

Seems like 13 is the number to beat if you wish to set a new record. Mike McGee and Pavel Milos hold the crown, but keep in mind McGee played a double-overtime while Milos' game lasted only 40 minutes, and so he should be the premier unofficial record holder.