Petar Božić’s side win another comebackthriller – beating the Manchester Giants at the Copper Box Arena
Jordan Taylor beat the buzzer once againto give his side a lifeline in overtime, where the Lions closed out the game indramatic fashion.
The London Lions 2023 campaign remains onecharacterised by comebacks. The league leaders left it late against the CheshirePhoenix on Friday and left it even later on Sunday night against the ManchesterGiants.
This North vs South battle took place at arocking Copper Box Arena, where the Lions were determined to gain some momentumback before returning to EuroCup action against Prometey on Wednesday evening.
The game started much like many of theLions games this season as they took a while to warm up and find their feet.However, once they did, it was an end-to-end quarter with both teams firing onoffense. Despite this, the reigning champions trailed 19-23 with 10 minutes inthe books.
The Lions knew they had to step up againsta Manchester Giants side that were in desperate need of a victory, havingmanaged just six from their 19 games played this season.
Manchester’s lead stretched all the way outto 22-33 midway through the quarter, but the hosts did well to limit thestruggling Giants with superb defensive play from Gabe Olaseni, who led thegame with four blocks.
The Giants’ lead was shrunk to just onepoint by halftime, with Lions fans expecting their side to complete a routinecomeback in the second half.
Much to the surprise of the home supporters,Manchester took off where they left off – firing in 19 points in the thirdquarter with impressive offensive movement and shooting from Evan Walshe.
Uncharacteristic turnovers from the Lions leftthe home side yearning for a comeback in the fourth quarter, as they trailed by10 points to a ninth placed Manchester side.
The final period started with the pep talkfrom coach Božić, who clearly ignited a fire in his players who lookeddetermined to overturn the deficit.
Guard Matt Morgan carried his team’soffense, giving the hosts a chance of completing another impressive comeback.In the dying seconds of the game, Jordan Taylor’s three-point effort from deeptook the game into overtime as the buzzer was drowned out by emotion at theCopper Box Arena.
Much to the surprise of everyone in thearena, including both benches, the tide had started to turn, and the momentumswung with Taylor’s equaliser.
As overtime begun, Matt Morgan continued toexcel as he continued to find points for London. However, it was Conor Morgan’sthree-pointer with 40 seconds left on the clock that stretched the Lions leadout to 97-91.
Although the hosts seem to be leaving gameslater and later before overturning deficits, the wins just seem to keep comingfor the reigning champions.
With another victory in the bag, the Lions moveto 19-3 in this season’s British Basketball League Championship and remaincomfortable at the top of the table.
Watch the highlights from London Lions vsManchester Giants here.
