7Days Eurocup
London Lions 83-76 Slask Wroclaw (30-24, 12-10, 25-22, 15-21)
(Lions – Taylor 23, Oni 22, Zubcic 12; Wroclaw – Martin, Puscia, Kolenda 18
The London Lions picked up an 83-76 win over Polish side Slask Wroclaw in their EuroCup; Group B clash at the Hala Stulecia on Wednesday night.
The win now sees the Lions’ record climb to 7-8, while Wroclaw are currently bottom with just one win from 15.
Although neither side shot particularly well from the field, the Lions outmanoeuvred their opponents, slashing to the basket.
Jordan Taylor had 23 points to lead London, and Miye Oni finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
Slask Wroclaw were led by Lukasz Kolenda, Vasilije Pusica and Jeremiah Martin, who all got 18 points. The Lions got off the mark with Miye Oni connected from deep.
Sam Dekker continued the scoring, whilst Wroclaw’s Kolenda was getting to the basket and scoring at will, tying things up at the charity stripe.
London built a six-point cushion that was quickly taken away by Ivan Ramljak.
The home side managed to get the lead back on their side, with Oni scoring 10 points in the period and Tomislav Zubcic connecting on a few late possessions.
Taylor’s bucket gave the Lions an eight-point lead in the second quarter. But could not keep Wroclaw at bay – Jeremiah Taylor igniting the visitors with a three-pointer.
Aaron Best, who had eight points off the bench, got his first score. The Lions headed into the locker with only a four-point lead.
Neither team could take charge in the first five minutes – only amassing eight points between them.
Zubic and Oni combined for ten points for the visitors, while for Wroclaw, only Taylor was able to provide an offensive spark.
Yet London could not capitalise – with Pusica tying things up with three points from the line.
In the final quarter, Dekker nudged the Lions ahead. The lead rattled back and forth – as the two sides battled on every possession.
The BBL Cup MVP, who had an off night from the three-point line, still got 11 points and scored two considerable possessions to push his team ahead with four minutes to go.
And Jordan Taylor’s triple put the game out of reach. A couple of free throws from him iced the game and sent the Lions to victory.
The London Lions will host Greek side Promitheas Patras on Wednesday, 15th March, in their next EuroCup game.
