London Lions
83
64
Surrey Scorchers

Luke Nelson led the way with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists as London Lions stayed top of the BBL Championship table with an 83-64 victory against Surrey Scorchers, on Saturday evening.

Ovie Soko added 17 points and Arron Best finished with 14 points as Ryan Schmidt's team produced a strong second half on their way to a fourth straight domestic victory.

The hometown Scorchers were led by 15 points from Padiet Wang with Jalen Ray adding 13.

Soko's dunk got Lions off the marks before Nelson converted a driving lay-up but triples from Wang and Ray saw the home side go into the first break with a 16-11 lead.

Wang and Ray again converted from outside the arc as Scorchers stretched their lead to nine before a four-point Best play dragged Lions back into the game, only to see Liam Busumbru and Kyle Carey convert three-point plays to make it a 31-24 with four minutes on the clock.
Best continued to keep his side in the game with a lay-up and a triple as he tied the game at 31, and his four-from-four foul shooting plus a sent Lions into the locker room with a 37-33 half-time lead.

Five Soko points to open the second half put Lions in control before Josh Sharma's dunk followed by a lay-up capped a 15-0 run and put the victory 46-33 ahead.

Soko kept Lions' lead in double digits midway through the third quarter and although Shakem Johnson kept his side in the game, lay-ups from Sharma and Tomislav Zubcic sent Lions into the final break leading 56-49.

Carey opened the fourth period with a triple to make it a four-point game but that was as close as Surrey came as Nelson buried a triple, and three-from-three Bradley Kaboza free-throws followed by a Nelson scored a turnaround jump shot to put his side up by 15 points with four minutes on the clock.

There was no way back for the hosts as Kaboza stayed cool at the foul line as Lions wrapped up the win.

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