Lions overwhelm Phoenix for clean sweep of trophies
London Lions' Joel Scott led the scoring for his team with 22 points as they won the Super League Basketball play-off final
- Published
The London Lions claimed a domestic quadruple, defeating Cheshire Phoenix 104-81 in the Super League Basketball play-off final at the O2 Arena.
They had already claimed the SLB Trophy, Cup and Championship title this season and looked dangerous from the tip-off.
Joel Scott scored 12 points in the first quarter as Cheshire found themselves down by double figures despite scoring 23 points of their own at the end of the opening ten minutes.
Struggling with offensive rebounds and being smothered by the Lions' defence, Phoenix lost further ground in the second quarter, with Aaryn Rai and Shavar Reynolds adding multiple scores to extend the lead to 18 points.
Frankie Policelli and league MVP Patrick Robinson gave Phoenix hope early in the third quarter, scoring 16 points between them, but repeated free-throw misses and a standout period for Kameron Mcgusty helped widen the gap to 20 points with the final quarter remaining.
As Phoenix pushed to close the gap in the final ten minutes, the error count increased, allowing Scott and Mcgusty to benefit on the fast break.
With a comfortable 25-point lead, the Lions slowed the pace of the game against a tiring Phoenix, who increasingly shot from distance.
With the clock winding down, Phoenix scored through Damiri Lindo and Skyler White, but they never looked like overhauling the Lions' lead, and their players and fans celebrated jubilantly at the buzzer after completing the domestic quadruple.
