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Dirk Williams led the way as London Lions continued their perfect start in the BBL Cup with a 90-80 victory at Bristol Flyers, on Saturday evening.
Williams finished with 21 points, five assists, three rebounds and as many blocks as Lions made it three straight wins in the season-opening competition.
Isaiah Reese continued his good start to life as a Lion, finishing with an 18-point, ten assist double-double, adding five rebounds. Julian Washburn finished with 13 points while Jordan Williams and Josh Ward-Hibbert each added 12 points in a balanced scoring effort. Williams added six boards, four steals and three assists. Mike Miller led Flyers with 19 points, while Malcolm Delpeche added an 18-point, ten rebound double-double.
The Lions did most of the damage in the first half, leading 25-18 after the first period and taking a 53-31 lead into the half-time break.
Coach Vince Macaulay was pleased with his side’s display:
“It was a tough game to go into after losing Andrea [Boreland] on Thursday and we were up against a team who had started the season well” he said. “But we started really well with Isaiah and Julian showing up, and they gave us the foundation for the win with a great first half. Bristol responded well in the second half, and their bigs did a good job which is something we need to look at, but we suck at it and recorded a good win.”
Reese opened the scoring for Lions and back-to-back Washburn lay-ups midway through the first period launched an 8-0 run to give them a lead they would never lose before a Jordan Williams sent them into the first break with a seven-point lead.
Reese made it a double-digit lead with the first score of the second period before triples from Ward-Hibbert and Washburn gave the hosts a 39-25 lead midway through the quarter. Reese joined in the fun from downtown with a pair of triples and Dirk Williams also scored from long range before dunking to give Lions a 22 point lead heading into the locker room.
With the hard work done, Lions took their foot off the gas in the second half and despite triples from Dirk Williams and Washburn, Flyers chipped away at the visitors lead with a 22-15 third period to make it a 68-53 game at the final break.
Ward-Hibbert opened the fourth period with a lay-up followed by an alley-oop off Reese’s assist, and Reese made it an 18-point game with another trey. Ward-Hibbert’s three took the lead out to 20 with five minutes on the clock to effectively wrap things up.
