London Lions vs Newcastle Eagles | 85 - 72

Sam Dekker led the scoring again as a strong third period paved the way for London Lions to win 85-72 at Newcastle Eagles, on Friday evening.

Dekker led a balanced Lions' offence with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists as Ryan Schmidt's team won their fourth straight game.

Ovie Soko added 12 points and six boards while youngster Bradley Kaboza had a perfect shooting night on his way to 12 points and five rebounds, hitting a pair of shots inside and outside the arc as well as at the foul line.

Vojtech Hruban also finished with 12 points while Tomislav Zubcic was the fifth player in double figures with 11 points, adding seven rebounds.

Javion Hamlet led Newcastle with 29 points but was the only home player in double figures.

Captain Soko opened the scoring but an even first half saw the teams tied on ten after five minutes play following a Hruban jump-shot, and although Eagles opened a five point, Lions quickly got back into thanks to scores from Soko and Hruban.

Triples from Josh Ward-Hibbert and Zubcic helped Lions into a 22-21 lead at the first break and after five Newcastle points, Ward-Hibbert hit a nice jumper to make it a two-point Eagles lead two minutes into the second period.

Dekker hit a jumper, followed by a Zubcic dunk as Lions stayed within a basket of the hosts and five straight Luke Nelson points tied the game heading into the final 90 seconds of the half before Dekker's lay-up gave London a 41-40 half-time lead.

Josh Sharma opened the second half scoring for Lions before Zubcic gave the visitors a lead they would never lose with 7:30 on the clock.

Dekker hit a triple and capped the 15-3 run which put the visitors firmly in control as they opened a 60-47 lead with just under four minutes in the third period remaining.

A Dekker jumper kept Lions' lead in double digits before four straight Kaboza points sent them into the final break with a 66-51 lead.

Soko sunk a pair of shots to open the fourth period to put Lions up by 17 and he took his tally to six for the quarter after Kaboza had scored from downtown.

The hosts never managed to get the game into single digits as Kaboza continued to shine, and Mo Soluade hit a triple to end the game as a contest with Lions up by 18 going into the final two minutes.