After a tough loss away to the Sheffield Sharks on Friday, who handed the Lions their first taste of defeat this season, coach Nigel Lloyd looked for a response from his players on the court and they did not disappoint.

Despite leading for most of the game the Lions gave themselves a fright in the third quater allowing Surrey to come within touching distance, but a final quarter surge made sure they came away winners.

As they have often done this season when challenged, the Lions found that extra gear and with three back to back triples from Owumi, Kai Williams and Zaire Taylor, suddenly the lead was back up to 12 and the game seemingly beyond Surrey’s reach.

Surrey gave the Lions quite a scare in the second half as Quincy Taylor poured in the points finishing with 23 points on the night for the Scorchers, but it wasn’t enough as a strict team talk from could Lloyd was enough to get them back on track.

Back to Winning Ways

Led by the BBL’s Player of the Month Rashad Hassan, the Lions took to the floor, sporting their ‘London city skyline’ themed purple and white uniforms with a desire to get back to winning ways.

Hassan was awarded Player of the Month in the BBL for the month of October, but after another outstanding performance he put tonight’s win down to the team:

“To achieve that award it feels great but really it’s a team award, I couldn’t do it without my team mates, I’ll celebrate tonight but then I’ve got to put it behind me and keep on moving on to the next step.”

The Lions started positively, storming out to an early ten-point lead after multiple threes from Alex Owumi, great inside play from Hassan and a clutch buzzer-beating three points from Lockhart who all had the home crowd roaring in the first quarter.

The second quarter arrived, and the Surrey side began to find some rhythm with point-guard Quincy Taylor providing most of the teams’ scoring with a nice 4-point play early into the 2nd. Alongside team GB’s forward, Will Neighbour who also hit a three, the Scorchers attempted to narrow the deficit but were unfortunate as the Lions’ shooting proved too much for the Scorchers, taking a 40-35 lead at half-time.

Star Players

Back onto the court, and Surrey needed to chase down the lead, within minutes the Guildford based team sliced the home side’s lead down to three thanks to an impressive 10-point scoring run from Taylor.

As the clock continued to tick down the Lions continued to put the pressure on with a flourish of set plays.

BBL Player of the Month, Rashad Hassan spoke of the importance of bouncing-back after last week’s defeat:

“It was very, very important because that [win] showed the heart of a champion, getting knocked down and bouncing back afterwards.”

A solid perfomance on the court from London’s Zaire Taylor saw him finish the game with an impressive 14 points, 12 assists and 7 steals. THe guard knows how important it was to secure the win:

“We got the win really that’s all that matters, a lot of guys played well. But good teams always respond big after losses, that’s what we want to be, a big team in this league. We can’t afford to lose too many games in this league so it’s going to be tough but we need to build on this now.”

With 27 points from Alex Owumi, 23 points and 13 rebounds for Rashad Hassan, and 22 Points from Kai Williams, the Lions turned the fixture into an exhibition, eventually running out 103-73 winners on the night.

The Lions now look ahead to an away trip to Plymouth to face the Raiders on Sunday 6th November at the Plymouth Pavilions arena with the view to build on their winning streak.