The London Lions were able to continue their unbeaten run to start the 2023/24 British Basketball League season after beating the Bristol Flyers to the score of 98-84.
Starting Five:
London
Lions starting five: Gabe Olaseni, Mo Soluade, Conor Morgan, Tarik Phillip,
Matt Morgan
Bristol Flyers starting five: Te’Jon Lucas, Tevin Olison, Kedrian Johnson, Raphell Thomas-Edwards, Brad Greene
First Half:
Two of last
season’s fiercest rivals, the Bristol Flyers started off again in front of the
London Lions. Much like their two games last season, the game was consistently close
throughout.
Flyers
started to take the lead in the first quarter. With both teams scoring nicely
from the field, the difference in shooting from beyond the arc was becoming the
difference maker. Bristol made three of their four attempts from three, while
London could only make one for seven.
It was an all-around first quarter from Bristol with the scoring spread throughout the likes of Brad Greene, Raphell Thomas-Edwards, and Kedrian Johnson.
London were
being led by Matt Morgan with his 10 points in the first quarter but saw
themselves down 23-20 by the end of the first quarter.
The second
quarter started to heat up the game.
With the
Lions seeing themselves down, Tarik Phillip and Conor Morgan started to catch
fire, scoring 11 points combined. The rebounding game also started to show with
London taking a 23-16 rebounding lead by the end of the second quarter.
The Flyers continued their sweet shooting keeping the score very close, but they saw the London Lions go into half-time with a 41-38 lead.
😨 MAJOR hang-time from Matt Morgan and a chance at the and-one for @LondonLions!
📺 WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/yeKu77WTCJ#UNBEATABLE #BritishBasketballLeague pic.twitter.com/5CV61bkViu
— British Basketball League (@britishbasketm) September 28, 2023
Second-Half:
Lions entered
the third quarter with a point to prove, and they showed it with a blistering
run. Luke Nelson started to orchestrate the offence, scoring five points, but
also getting the rest of the squad in their right shooting spots.
10 points
in the paint and seven fastbreak points followed for the Lions in the third
quarter, as the Flyers couldn’t answer back with a similar level of offence
shown in the first half.
London
couldn’t be held back by Bristol ending the third, with the Lions adding 30
points and taking a 71-51 lead.
Bristol, however, wouldn’t go down without a fight. Seeing themselves down by 20 entering the fourth quarter, the Flyers were able to bring it back to single digits throughout the majority of the fourth quarter.
Kedrian
Johnson and Tevin Olison started to heat up, scoring 18 combined in the fourth
quarter.
Unfortunately,
the depth of the Lions was simply too much for the Flyers to complete the
comeback. Matt Morgan, as he did in the first quarter, went into gamebreaker mode,
scoring 15 points to finish off the Flyers.
The Lions were able to take the win, and move to four wins in a row, beating the Bristol Flyers 98-84.
Tonight’s MVP:
Tonight’s MVP was Matt Morgan. The guard scored 25 points off 13 shots while going eight for 11 from the free-throw line.
Team | Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
London Lions | Matt Morgan | 25 | 2 | 0 |
London Lions | Conor Morgan | 17 | 1 | 3 |
Bristol Flyers | Kedrian Johnson | 20 | 3 | 3 |
Bristol Flyers | Tevin Olison | 14 | 3 | 3 |
With the new season here, you can still get your British Basketball fix by following the League on social media or heading to our YouTube channel to relive all of the best moments from the current season.