Lebanese guard scores 113 points, joins 2 Pinoys in Asian century club

Mohammad El-Akkari just made history after scoring 113 points in Tripoli's 173-141 win over Bejjeh in a Lebanese Division A league game, reported FIBAAsia.net.

El-Akkari shot 32-of-59 from the three point range, 40-of-69 over-all with one free-throw. The record-breaking performance came as a shock for many, as El-Akkari only averaged 7.6 points in 23 games for his club.

 

The Lebanese had a lackluster college basketball career in the United States, posting career highs of seven points and two rebounds in separate games in 2010. The 6-foot-4 guard was recruited by Brigham Young University in Hawaii after graduating from St. Pius X High School in Houston, Texas in 2008 where he averaged 16 points and nine rebounds to lead the Golden Lions to the state championship.

 

It is not the 27-year-old's first brush with fame, as Yahoo! Sports reported that he was elected as the first non-Mormon student body president of the Mormon school. El Akkari, described as a "devout, practicing musilm", majored in Supply Chain Management and Finance, before returning to his homeland to play professional basketball.

 

El-Akkari now joins two Filipinos as the only Asians who have broken the 100-point mark in any of the FIBA-sanctioned leagues. The first one to achieve this feat was Lou Salvador, as the Filipino scored 116 points at the 1923 Far Eastern Games against China. Salvador achieved the remarkable feat in a time where the 3-point shot didn't exist yet.