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A dominant fourth period saw Lions make it six straight BBL Championship victories with a 75-60 home win against Cheshire Phoenix, on Friday.
Vojtech Hruban led the way for Ryan Schmidt's team, finishing with 17 points, three rebounds and as many assists in just 20 minutes of action. Luke Nelson finished with 11 points and four boards, while Ovie Soko and Tomislav Zubcic added nine apiece for a balanced Lions scoring effort that saw all 12 points on the scoresheet and 11 playerd play double-digit minutes.
Jamell Anderson and Tahjai Teague led the visitors with 11 points apiece.
Anderson and Hruban exchanged triples to open a tight first half and Hruban proved to be the key man for Lions in the early stages as he coolly hit four free-throws to help Lions finish the period strongly with baskets from Kareem Queely, Josh Ward-Hibbert and Zubcic sent them into the opening break with an 18-12 lead.
Zubcic hit a triple either side of baskets from former Lion Will Neighbour early in the second period and Queely drained from the Land of Plenty to give the hosts a six-point advantage after four minutes,
But Marcus Evans capped a 5-0 mini-run to drag the visitors back into the game before Bradley Kaboza drove to the basket for a bucket only to see Evans make it 33-32 in Lions' favour as they went into the half-time break.
After almost three scoreless second half minutes, Josh Sharma's alley-oop from Nelson's assist got the scoreboard moving. But despite Nelson and Teague getting hot from behind the three-point line, there was little to choose between the teams as Phoenix closed out the period with five straight points to cut Lions' led to 50-48 at the final break.
It was Hruban's jump shot that launched the game-clinching run for the home side as they rattled off 15 straight points. His fadeaway too the margin into double figures before Ovie Soko drained a trriple and then got the crowd on its feet dunk to put Lions 67-50 ahead with 4:38 on the clock.
Evans broke the run but there was no way back for the visitors as Hruban drove to the basket before Nelson's trey ended the game as a contest and they go into Sunday's home game with Manchester Giants two wins clear at the top of the table.
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