HERAKLION (Greece)  - Nikita Mikhailovskii made history at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 as the Russian star registered the first triple-double in the competition since 2013.

Mikhailovskii collected 20 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in Russia’s 83-75 victory over Greece in Group C of the event.

"It was a very important victory against the hosts, which is a strong team. I hope it will give us some strength, some rhythm and some pace to go for the next games," said Mikhailovskii, who was named to the All-Star Five of the FIBA U18 European Championship 2018.

Mikhailovskii etched his place in U19 World Cup history as only the second player with a triple-double since 1991 according to FIBA archive data. But the shooting guard wasn’t worried about any individual accolades in the victory, which evened Russia's record at 1-1. 

"My teammates scored off my passes and I really didn’t think about it. I just thought about the win and we win as a team," Mikhailovskii said.

The 18-year-old BC Avtodor Saratov players joins Dario Saric in the annuls of U19 triple-double history. The Croatian star tallied 32 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists against Korea in the first game of the 2013 U19 World Cup in Czech Republic. Saric's triple-double is the only one on the FIBA books as records for the first four U19 World Cups (1979, 1983, 1987 and 1991) included only points among the three triple-double stats. And blocks have only been recorded since 2003.

FIBA