London guide spot in subsequent spherical of EuroCup

7Days EuroCup

London Lions 83-66 Veolia Towers Hamburg (19-13, 42-30, 62-51)
(Lions: Koufos, 17; Dekker, 15; Nelson/Oni, 14 – Hamburg: Childs, 14; Woodard/McCullum, 10; Hinrichs/Philipps, 8)

London Lions picked up an important 83-66 victory over Veolia Towers Hamburg of their 7Days EuroCup encounter at a rocking CopperBox Enviornment on Wednesday evening.

It was a deserved victory for the Lions who finish a two-game skid within the EuroCup, enhancing to 6-8 in Group B, which secures their spot within the subsequent spherical, a monumental step for London and for British basketball.

Kosta Koufos led 4 London gamers in double figures as he shot 8/10 from the sector en path to 17 factors together with 11 rebounds, with Sam Dekker including one other 15.

Yoeli Childs paced Hamburg with 14 factors.

A carefully fought first quarter noticed the hosts break clear first as Dekker scored 4 factors to offer London a 10-6 lead with 4 minutes of the primary interval gone.

Hamburg, although, fired again and scored the next 5 factors earlier than a 3 from Luke Nelson and a jumper from Aaron Finest restored the Lions’ four-point cushion.

Nevertheless, with each side chasing coveted spots into the following spherical of the EuroCup, the motion was bodily and, at instances, scrappy.

The Lions maintained their benefit on the finish of the primary quarter, as six factors from Dekker helped his aspect achieve a 19-13 benefit.

Popping out within the second quarter, Hamburg caught the Lions napping and, with simply over a minute performed, went on a 6-0 spurt, capped off by a triple from Anthony Well mannered to knot the sport at 19-19.

Eager to let London struggle via adversity, coach Ryan Schmidt was strategic, saving his timeout and persevering with the motion.

It was the correct transfer.

The hosts answered Hamburg’s 6-0 run with a 10-0 burst of their very own, with Koufos and Miye Oni on the coronary heart of the motion, because the BBL Championship leaders took their first double-digit lead of the evening.

Refusing to let the sport slip away at an early stage, the German guests hit again and narrowed the hole to 31-28 with 3:30 remaining within the half, as Hamburg performed stable attacking basketball.

However because the half neared, London roared again with Oni once more within the combine as his 9 factors led the hosts to a 42-30 cushion.

And because the third quarter began, Koufos performed like a person possessed, scoring seven factors in three minutes to push London’s result in 52-39.

The guests, who struggled from the sector within the first half, couldn’t comprise the Lions’ inside presence and couldn’t discover any rhythm offensively.

Consequently, London was comfy within the third, sustaining a double-digit benefit that they stored going into the ultimate quarter, regardless of a rating from Jonas Wohlfarth-Botterman on the buzzer.

Again-to-back triples from Nelson to start the ultimate interval seemed to be the ultimate nail within the coffin for Hamburg as coach Barloschky known as a fast timeout in an try and salvage a contest that seemed out of attain.

The timeout was solely delaying the inevitable because the Lions refused to halt their momentum.

Certain sufficient, one other rating from Nelson halfway via handed the hosts a 76-56 lead, placing the Germans away for good.

Time to rejoice, however just for a number of hours because the Lions now have to regulate and refocus on the Championship, as they make the journey to Scotland to face the Caledonia Gladiators on Friday.

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