BBL Championship
London Lions 89-79 Cheshire Phoenix (15-18, 34-17, 25-18, 15-24)
Lions – Zubčić 19, Soko 14, Sharma 13; Phoenix – Austin 26, Anderson 15, Teague 12
After losing a close 7Days EuroCup contest against Gran Canaria earlier in the week, the London Lions got a much-needed 89-79 win over Cheshire Phoenix.
The win for London maintains their grip on the top spot in the BBL Championship and builds some momentum heading into the BBL Cup Finals on Sunday.
Fortunately for the home team, the Cheshire Phoenix travelled to the CopperBox Arena with some bodies missing.
James Price stepped in for usual coach Ben Thomas – who was away from the team to welcome his newborn into the world; Lloyd Daniels broke his hand in practice; and illness hit others in the locker room.
Cheshire’s Larry Austin put in a massive effort with 26 points to keep the visitors in the fight, but Tomislav Zubčić’s 19 points led a balanced Lions attack.
After being named MVP, the Croatian top scorer told Azania Stewart on the broadcast: “It was a tough game coming off the loss in EuroCup, but we managed to give our effort and get the win.
“It’s definitely been a tough schedule, but we have almost a full team, so it’ll be easier to play with a full roster.”
The Lions’ Jordan Taylor opened up the contest with an in-rhythm, mid-range jump shot coming around a screen on the left side.
This was followed by back-to-back drives from Taylor and his teammate Luke Nelson.
Josh Sharma showed his range for the team by stepping out behind the three-point line after the defence collapsed on Nelson when the point guard found his way to the bucket on an out-of-bounds play.
The guard passed out of the drive, and the ball found its way to the big man at the top of the three-point arc.
It was an good early stretch for the home team, but it didn’t take long for the travellers to warm up. Cheshire’s Tahjai Teague got a few shots to go, and Jamell Anderson scored from three-point territory.
Getting back to what the crowd loves him for, Sharma threw down a dunk off a slick pass from Nelson, which was instigated…
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