Vear ecstatic as Lions maul Bears

Lions' coach James Vear couldn't hide his delight as his team wrapped up their FIBA Europe Cup campaign with an 82-75 victory against Bakken Bears at the Copper Box, on Wednesday evening.

A stunning third period paved the way for London's win and Vear was clearly a very happy man after the game:

"It was very pleasing with how we played and the best thing about it was how we didn't stop believing after a poor first half" he said. "We stuck to our game-plan and did a really good job building momentum in the third quarter. I think the nine third period points we held them to in third was our best defensive quarter in Europe this year and it allowed us to do what we do best - get our run and push the ball. We're at our absolute best when we do that, and Dirk [Williams] had an incredible second half. It wasn't just his threes, but it was his team-mates understanding that he was hot and getting the ball to him. They knew he was on fire and they made sure that he had the ball."

Williams finished with five triples off just seven attempts on his way to a 23 point night, but Vear acknowledged it wasn't a one-man show that won his team their first game in second second stage of the Europe Cup:

"We knew Bakken would come back, and they had a little run when they hit a couple of shots, but we remained calm and got the ball into the hands of Isaiah [Reese] and Marquis [Teague]. They made some great plays whether it was shooting the ball or getting it to an open team-mate."

The third period run that put Lions in a position to win the game saw the Copper Box crowd in full voice and Vear clearly enjoyed the atmosphere at the Stratford venue:

"The crowd was just incredible" he said. "When that place is loud, it really is LOUD! The players feed off that energy and when it's rocking there's no better place to play in the UK. We want to build on that and hope the fans continue to come to our BBL games."    

Lions finished with a 6-6 record in their FIBA Europe Cup campaign, and Vear believes the club will have benefited from the experience:

"I think it's been a massive learning curve for the team and the organisation as a whole" he said. "The most important thing is we learn from our mistakes and also what went well for us. To be successful in Europe is not an overnight thing, and if you look at the best teams it takes years of planning to be a success in Europe. Bakken are a prime example, they've been doing this for a long time and they understand what they need to do to be a success."