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London Lions Overpower Bristol Flyers 82-64 to End their Seven-Game Win Streak. Player of the Game, Kosta Koufos, Erupts for 18 Points, 11 Rebounds and 2 Blocks
The Londoners got off to a rousing start, exciting the near-capacity crowd during their early 14-8 start. Super sniper Vojtech Hruban got the ball rolling with a triple off a high-IQ dime from Jordan Taylor. The former University of Wisconsin–Madison star continued his offensive assault with back-to-back, mid-range and 3-point buckets to give the Lions an 8-2 lead.
The early run of good form, to which Kosta Koufos and Mo Soluade contributed, was somewhat upended by not one but three errant technical calls (in one minute) on the Lions’ bench and Koufos. Said calls allowed the Bristolians to cut the Lions' lead to two points (14-12).
However, the Lions very own London Towers, Josh Sharma and Koufos retaliated with back-to-back buckets (19-12), with the latter being Sharma’s fourth triple of the regular BBL season. Second-generation basketball star Luke Nelson and Lion-hearted Canadian guard Aaron Best combined for five points to draw London’s first-quarter efforts to a close, claiming a 24-18 advantage going into the second quarter.
The defensive intensity employed by the Lions in the second quarter caused Bristol a lot of problems. The Flyers were only able to able to connect on three shots from open play to the tune of a mere eight points. Whilst rookie Jonathan Komagum, Best, Soluade and Taylor all grabbed steals during this miserable run for the Flyers, the team as a whole forced Bristol into shot clock violations and missed shots.
London went on a 6-0 run (30-18) before Thomas Bell III scored his team’s first points of the period from the charity stripe. But that brace didn’t worry the Lions, as they ended the quarter on a 16-5 surge and a 46-26 advantage going into halftime.
The third quarter proved a little more difficult for London, conceding 21 points. However, a pick-and-roll alley-oop flush from Sharma, a trey from Vojtech Hruban and buckets from Koufos and Best helped to keep Bristol at bay as the Lions held onto a 19-point lead (66-47) going into the fourth period.
Although London only scored 16 points to the Flyers' 17 in the fourth quarter, it was enough to keep the Flyers at a distance. Nelson opened the quarter with a triple and complimented his points total with another trey later in the quarter to give the Lions a 22-point lead. The GB star followed it up with a mid-range dagger just before a Koufos block on Tevin Olison ignited a fast-break transition play that Hruban took full advantage of. Tevin Olison connected on a 3-point shot to end the fourth, but it was too little, too late.
