With a dominant third quarter, the London Lions pulled away from the Leicester Riders to win the British Basketball League Trophy 2-0 on Sunday.
The Lions won 89-74 in the Copper Box Arena thanks to a 13-0 start to the second half, which kept Leicester scoreless for almost six minutes.
With Donte Grantham contributing 14 points, Matt Morgan led the Lions after making a strong comeback from injury.
The Riders were led by Teddy Allen, who finished with 21 points after scoring 19 in the first half.
With London defending Allen well and him scoring all four of his points from the foul line after starting the game 0–4 from the field, the first four minutes of play were competitive.
Tarik Phillip scored four of the Lions’ points, accounting for 50% of the team’s total, as the team approached the first timeout with Leicester down 10-7.
The visitors were given some life when Blake Bowman came off the bench, but the hosts were equally in control of the floor thanks to Luke Nelson.
Josh Sharma also scored quickly, scoring two buckets in as many possessions. Nelson’s tip-off lob to Josh Sharma gave London a 25-19 lead after the first.
London took advantage of some poor isolated plays by the Riders, and the halftime score was 50–40. The lead had increased to 31–19 as a result.
The Lions got off to a 13-0 lead after the break, scoring three points from long range as Leicester looked tired and unable to put the ball in the basket despite having good looks.
Not until the sixth minute of the third quarter did the Riders finally get on the board thanks to a tough lay-up by Miryne Thomas and a triple from TJ Lall on the wing.
With a comfortable 70-49 lead after three, London’s explosive start to the quarter made all the difference.
After trailing by as many as 23, Riders managed to chip away at the deficit thanks to baskets from Allen and Kimbal Mackenzie, who both brought the house down with a one-handed slam off the pick-and-roll.
The BBL Trophy saw London win two games in a row, but the beginning of the third quarter proved to be the game-changing moment.
