Lions men II remain in the NBL Division One play-off zone, but it was a tough weekend on the road for the young London side as they went down to a pair of defeats.
The Barking Abbey based side went down 94-86 at Loughborough Riders on Saturday before losing 100-80 the following day.
Lions never recovered from a poor first half at Loughborough as the hosts built on a 26-22 opening period to lead 53-41 going into the locker room at half-time. The third period proved to be the best of the game for Lions as Bradley Kaboza hit a pair of free-throws to cut the hosts lead to 79-71 at the final break. Joe Bielek and Elijah Maynard exchanged triples to open the fourth quarter and Brandon Tchouya hit a floater to make it an eight point game with six minutes on the clock but that was as close as the visitors came, leaving Riders to wrap up a key win in their fight against relegation.
Jase Harrison led the visitors with 20 points and four rebounds while Maynard had five rebounds and three assists to go with his 18 points. But Brandon Tchouya was the only other Lion in double digits with 11 point and four rebounds.
It didn’t get any better the following day as Lions only briefly led against a Dragons team who kept their outside play-off hopes alive with a comfortable victory.
Scores from Harrison and Maynard gave London an early 4-2 lead, but the hosts reeled off nine straight points and never trailed again as they went into the first break 26-20 ahead. That advantage grew to 50-41 at half-time and a 26-15 third period effectively ended the game as a contest before the sides shared 48 fourth quarter points.
Maynard and Stephen Asante led the visitors with 15 points each, Maynard adding six rebounds and Asante three while Harrison finished with ten points and four boards. Peter Asante, Kaboza and Tchouya all chipped in with nine points apiece.
.jpg)