The London Lions produce a miraculouscomeback victory in a top of the table clash against the visiting CheshirePhoenix.
The home side finished strong in the fourthquarter to settle the debate as they scored an exceptional 37 points tocomplete the comeback victory.
The London Lions returned to the Copper BoxArena 48 hours after their disappointing defeat to Hamburg in the EuroCup. However,London were a side who entered the fixture determined to put the defeat behindthem and continue their impressive British Basketball League form.
The two sides have already faced each othertwice this season, with the reigning champions tasting victory on bothoccasions.
The game started fast with both teamsscoring from behind the arc, which set the pace for the game in the earlystages. A three-pointer from Cheshire’s small forward Skyler White wasinstantly responded to by a long-distance effort from London’s Matt Morgan.
The shooting on display was outstanding asboth sides looked to reign supreme for the bragging rights between two ofBritain’s finest. Matt Morgan stood out as he led the Lions in scoring with 28points, as well as recording four assists in the process.
The three-pointers continued to fly in thegame as Lions’ Ciaran Sandy ended the first quarter by sinking one at thebuzzer.
With the second quarter in full swing andthe game flying back and forth, the Phoenix were in no mood to back down asthey dominated play. Despite going into the quarter five points down, theyproduced a 10-point swing to lead the game by five points going into the half-timebreak.
The talented Aaryn Rai stepped up bothoffensively and defensively to make his mark on the game as he led the match inscoring with an impressive 32 points.
As the Lions have developed a bit of areputation for comebacks this season, the theme continued as they looked tooverturn the five-point deficit at the half.
The third quarter saw Cheshire Phoenix’lead balloon as they pummelled the London defence who continued to strugglecontaining Aaryn Rai.
As the lead blew all the way out to 14points in the quarter, a glimpse of hope arrived as Jordan Taylor bounced apass through the legs of Skylar White for Josh Sharma to dunk home.
The Lions left it late in this one, but inthe fourth quarter they really started to take control as they attempted toclaw back the deficit. The defeat to Hamburg Towers was clearly present intheir minds as they appeared determined to avoid back-to-back defeats.
The Lions began to roar in the Copper Boxby scoring an astonishing 37 points in the fourth quarter to complete amiraculous comeback in the capital.
London’s offense was led by the creativeflair of last season’s MVP Sam Dekker, alongside Lions leading scorer MattMorgan and big man Gabe Olaseni.
The home side successfully managed to putthe midweek EuroCup defeat behind them and complete an impressive comebackvictory against fellow title challengers.
The Lions will look to build on thismomentum for their next domestic fixture when they take on the ManchesterGiants on Sunday.
Watch the highlights from London Lions vsCheshire Phoenix here.
