Lions one step nearer to Championship glory, Bristol come up clutch to remain in contact

BBL Championship

 Leicester Riders 77-102 London Lions (19-25, 35-48, 58-77)
(Riders: MacKenzie, 18; Jackson, 17; Loving, 14 — Lions: Dekker, 18; Sharma/Hruban, 17; Soluade, 14)

BBL Championship

Newcastle Eagles 66-68 Bristol Flyers (22-19, 41-32, 57-49)
(Eagles: Hamlet, 24; Johnson, 17; Gordon, 8 — Flyers: King, 12, Bell/Olison, 10; Samuels, 9)

London Lions maintained their place on the summit of the BBL Championship with a 102-77 win over the Leicester Riders at Morningside Enviornment on Friday evening.

In a rematch of January’s BBL Cup remaining, London dominated from tip to buzzer in entrance of the Sky Sports activities cameras as they secured their third win over the Riders within the league and fourth general this season.

Sam Dekker led the winners with 18 factors, with Josh Sharma including 17 because the Lions have the BBL Championship title of their sights.

“Coming off the nationwide workforce break, we needed to get again into rhythm and sustain our momentum after our win over Bristol,” Sharma mentioned.

“We got here in to execute our ideas and do what we will.”

Contemporary off his first cap for Nice Britain earlier this week, Kimbal MacKenzie led Leicester with 18 factors.

Following a strong begin from the hosts, London fought again, with Mo Soluade capping off a 14-0 run with a triple to present the guests a 13-8 lead halfway via the primary.

Leicester would reply and play higher workforce basketball, however after the primary interval, trailed the Lions 25-19.

Because the second quarter started, London’s offensive execution was elegant; they went on an 8-0 spurt to steer 33-19, highlighted by a colossal transition lob, caught and hammered residence by Sharma.

Because the second quarter concluded, London had shot 58% from two-point land, hitting six three-pointers for good measure to steer by 48-35 on the half.

Riders – who dedicated simply 4 fouls within the first half – acquired into early foul bother because the third quarter began as Sharma prolonged London’s result in 64-43 with greater than 5 minutes remaining.

Riders minimize the deficit in the direction of the top of the third from the free throw line, solely to be hit with a 3 from Aaron Greatest on the buzzer to present the guests a 77-58 cushion.

Even for a workforce as robust as Leicester, it was too huge a deficit to beat, as London shot 47% from the sector, which included going 14/29 from three-point land to widen the hole on the high.

Bristol Flyers saved their hopes of catching the league leaders with a slender 68-66 win over the Newcastle Eagles on the Vertu Motors Enviornment.

As they did towards Newcastle of their final encounter, although, the Flyers needed to come from behind as a 19-9 fourth quarter acquired them out of jail.

VJ King paced Bristol to victory with 12 factors, supported by Thomas Bell and Tevin Olison, who acquired added 10 because the Flyers keep second.

Javion Hamlet led all scorers with 24 in useless for Newcastle.

Each groups traded buckets to start out till Thomas Bell created a little bit of respiration area with a rating inside to present the guests a 10-6 lead with 4:42 left.

Newcastle, although, had been knocking on the door, and so they finally took an 18-16 lead with a step-back three-pointer.

And the Eagles maintained their lead all through the primary, taking a 22-19 benefit into the second, the place they began to go up a gear.

The hosts held Bristol to simply eight factors in eight minutes as Javion Hamlet drove via site visitors to attain, giving his aspect a 38-27 benefit en path to a 41-32 lead on the half.

Bristol, who had let their opponents shoot 50% from the sector on the half, couldn’t match Newcastle’s accuracy; nonetheless, because the third quarter started, additionally they began to search out their rhythm.

Brandon Mahan gave the Flyers hope with a 3 to slender the hole to 51-37 and an extra 9-0 run to scale back it extra to 55-49, making them consider with a minute left.

Hamlet ended the run with a floater inside to hold on to the lead going into the fourth.

Newcastle’s lead within the remaining quarter peaked at seven factors, however with lower than 30 seconds left, Bristol’s persistent play paid off, as Jelani Watson-Gayle scored to present the guests a 67-66 lead which they held on to as David Cohn’s Hail Mary from his personal half, missed its mark.

One recreation tomorrow (Saturday) as Surrey Scorchers host Caledonia Gladiators. To catch all of the motion, like and subscribe to the BBL YouTube channel.