London Lions vs Plymouth City Patriots | 88-79

London Lions Hold Off the Plymouth City Patriots to Claim 79-88 Road Victory. Tomislav “Zuba” Zubcic Hits Four 3-Pointers En Route to 21-Point and 8-Assist Performance

Professional marksman and Player of the Game Tomislav “Zuba” Zubcic torched the Plymouth City Patriots from long-range, connecting on four of five of his 3-point attempts, finishing with a game-high 21 points. The Croatian sniper complimented his points total with eight assists, five rebounds and two blocks. 

The game started as a very scrappy affair, with neither team able to hold on to their leads in the first quarter. Recent signing Jules Dang Akodo helped Plymouth race out to a 7-3 start in the early going, shortly after the Lions missed their sixth shot. Captain Ovie Soko cut the lead Devon-based team’s lead down to two points, but Markedric Bell extended the Plymouth City advantage several seconds later to 9-5.

Poor shooting (as well as foul trouble – sending the Patriots to the free throw line) continued to plague London, but a triple from Mo Soluade and a layup from Soko gave the Lions a slender (12-13) one-point lead. This advantage evaporated nine seconds later via a bucket from Isa Brandon. 

Soluade, who finished the game with a season-high of 15 points, knocked down another 3-pointer to give London a 14-16 lead. However, the Patriots tied the score (16-16) at the end of the quarter via yet another errand foul call on Tomislav “Zuba” Zubcic, which sent Bell to the line.

The Londoners opened the second quarter on a 2-13 run that gave them an 18-29 lead. The Lions’ lead fluctuated between 8-12 points for the next five minutes until big man Rashad Hassan cut the lead back down to nine points. Buckets from Soko and sophomore guard Bradley Kaboza helped the Lions hold on to an 11-point lead until Soko could extend the advantage at the line with two shots. However, once again, Plymouth continued to stay in the game, with Hassan knocking down a bucket in the dying seconds of the period.

The third period began with a foray of 3-point makes initially sparked by Josh Sharma’s energy-galvanising-Jordan Taylor-assisted alley-oop dunk. “Zuba” shot the lights out of the Plymouth Pavilions, knocking down three back-to-back triples to give the Londoners a gaudy 21-point advantage. But the Lions’ assault from long-range didn’t stop there as Taylor got in on the 3-point fun at the 07:55 mark to give London a 24-point lead.

Ryan Schmidt’s squad continued to click to the tune of 24 total points but Plymouth fought their way back, cutting the lead down to 15 points by the end of the quarter. 

Plymouth City Patriots got the better of the Lions in the fourth with 27 massive points to London’s 21. However, the closest they could cut the lead down to was four points at the 05:39 mark before “Zuba” hit another triple to push the Lions’ lead back up to seven points. Soko made the last Lions bucket from open play at 02:22, after which “Zuba” ignited his clutch gene to hit four back-to-back free throw shots to close out the game and give the Lions a 79-88 victory.