"It's only half time"

"It's only half-time and there's still time to win the tie and reach the final."

That's the rallying call from Lions coach Vince Macaulay as his side look to overcome a 12-point deficit against Plymouth Raiders in the BBL Championship play-off semi-final second leg on Thursday.

The Lions went down 92-80 in the first leg - both ties are being played at Morningside Arena, Leicester - but Macaulay expects a much better display from his team.

"We didn't put our best game on the floor. We looked hurried and rushed, and we suffered because of that. Their offensive rebounds gave them the energy to give them the win. We need to box out more, get defensive stops and get out in transition - which is when we play our best basketball."

On a night when the Lions led in the early stages before allowing the Raiders to take control in the second period and never look back, Macaulay admitted his frustration at their performance: "I'm disappointed with how we played because I know we can do so much better. We allowed their non-scorers to get too many points due to the amount of second opportunities we gave them.

"We need to pick up the pace and play the kind of basketball we produced during the final part of the regular season and against Cheshire last week. We've stayed in Leicester and had a good practice on the court, so we're ready to go.

"We can still reach the final, we need to make sure we play well enough to succeed."

Thursday's game is live on Sky Sports at 7.30pm and is preceded by Riders hosting Newcastle as the visitors who will try to overturn a single point deficit from the first half.

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