Alaskan Justinian Jessup held his own against NBA competition Wednesday night.
A former NBA draft pick now playing in Germany, Jessup hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points to go with seven rebounds, three assists and one steal for Ulm in a 111-100 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Rose City.
Jessup, who grew up in Nome, hit two 3s and assisted on another triple in the third quarter when the German team outscored the Blazers 29-22 and cut an 18-point deficit down to six.
In 2020, Jessup was drafted in the second round by the Golden State Warriors out of Boise State University. He played for the Warriors in the NBA Summer League in 2021 and 2022.
He arrived in Germany with a nice resume that included stops in the Australian NBL, where he averaged 13.2 points in 68 games before going to the famed ACB league in Spain, where he played for Zaragoza and averaged 11.6 points in 28 games.
Last week in the EuroCup, the 6-foot-6 sharpshooter scored 27 points in a 94-76 road win over Lithuanian power Vilnius.
Jessup’s 27 points were the most for a player from Alaska in the EuroCup since Anchorage’s Travante Williams also had 27 in 2021 for Portugal power Sporting.