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London Lions made it ten wins from 11 domestic games as they returned from Surrey Scorchers with am 85-72 BBK Championship victory, on Saturday evening.
Lions outscored the home side in all four periods as they recorded their second league victory of the campaign.
Isaiah Reese had another stella performance for Vince Macaulay’s team with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Jordan Williams had a 21 point, ten rebound double-double, adding six assists, three steals and a couple of blocks. Dirk Williams continued his good run of form with 20 points and seven boards for London, while Surrey were led by 14 points apiece from Saiquan Jamison and Martelle McLemore with the former pulling down a massive 17 rebounds.
Lions’ coach Vince Macaulay was pleased with how his side played in Surrey:
“This was always going to be one of our toughest games, we were coming back from the highs of qualifying in Europe and back in England before our last game before a short break” he said.
“We were up against a bunch of London guys, and they just added Jules DANG to make it even tougher. We struggled with the mental challenge a bit in the first half but despite the loss of Kylor [Kelley] we were able to step up in the second half and cruise through to the win.”
Dirk Williams scored the first five Lions points as the visitors led from tip-to-buzzer, and Luigi Cugini, Reese and Williams scored the full variety of three point plays down the stretch as Lions took a 26-20 lead into the first break.
Reese buried a triple to open the second period before Kylor Kelley’s dunk took the lead into double digits, but although London continued to control the game, they never managed to pull away but with Reese and Dirk Williams adding baskets from downtown, Lions led 48-40 at half-time.
Julian Washburn got the scoreboard moving two minutes into the second half with a pair at the foul line before Chris Tawiah converted a spectacular alley-oop off Reese’s assist. Triples from Reese and Dirk Williams made it a 14-point game after four minutes.
Jordan Williams’ lay-up kept Lions up by 12 before Martelle McLemore’s triple cut the lead to 64-55 at the final break before the pair again exchanged baskets to open the fourth period.
Legend Robertin’s free-throw took the visitors’ lead down to 66-59 before Will Neighbour’s triple and a Justin Robinson lay-up took the lead back out to 12 points. Tayo Ogedengbe, briefly took the lead back into single figures with 5:42 on the clock but a pair of Jordan Williams baskets ended any chance of a comeback as Lions closed out the win.
