A day Lions fans were looking forward to shadowed by FIBA not to allow the participation of the team in the FIBA Europe cup due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
The final saw the London Lions take on Newcastle Eagles, with 7 cup titles between them the Lions looked to close the gap on Newcastle’s record haul of five cups.
The Lions were without squad depth due to COVID-19 protocols which seemed to weaken the team as they were without 7 players including MVP favourite DeAndre Liggins who had been averaging 19.4 points in the competition, 7.7 rebounds & 3.1 steals per game.
1st half
Justin Robinson & Shane Walker got the Lions going when they both hit early triples in the quarter, it would be the only triples made in the quarter as the Lions were hesitant to let it fly from behind the arc.
The Eagles however did crawl back into the game after being kept scoreless for almost five minutes. A sequence in plays that saw Rahmon Fletcher hit a triple to bring the score within 2 with two minutes to go, followed by Louis Sayers’ corner triple helped the Eagles pull away to close the first quarter 21-18.
The Lions started the second quarter woeful as the Eagles extended their lead into double digits. Poor shooting was the tail of the quarter with the Lions making 22.7% of field goals and only making one of the attempted eleven triples courtesy of Dirk Williams who cut the lead to nine at the time, you couldn’t tell this was the same Williams who in his last seven appearances had been averaging 16.1 points per game from beyond the arc.
Eagles restored their double-digit lead with a Cortez Edwards layup, half-time break 46-35.
2nd half
The beginning of the second half saw the Lions rise to the occasion, minimizing on turnovers only giving up one, the Lions crawled back back into the game, shooting 64.3% of their field goals this was down to Williams finding his shooting form once again cutting a 15-point to just one single point and helping offensively and defensively.
Edwards extended the lead to 3 for the Eagles followed by a Darius Defoe layup that closed the quarter 62-57.
Dang Akodo and Robinson opened the final quarter with triples to give the Lions their first lead since the first quarter. It was a back and forth exchange for leads.
A Williams lay up saw the Lions pull ahead with seven with less than 5 minutes to go. The Lions called a timeout with monument on their side, well at least that’s what we thought was the case, after the timeout The Eagles came out more determined, a real momentum switch and Justin Gordon and Sayers the real different makers both knocking down huge triples to take a 10-0 run and take the lead. The Eagles held on to seal the victory. 84-77.
FIBA’s Decision
After the game Lions coach Vince Macaulay took to Twitter to say he was proud of his side talking about the adversity of only being able to field a roster of just 8 players.” I thought the guys came out and did a terrific job, I’m very very proud of them. We move on, this is for the future this isn’t a one game situation and we will be back”
He admitted the loss was tough but it’s all what a final entails.
“I thought we had that game right there, a couple of crucial calls I think went against us that I didn’t understand but swings and roundabouts it’s going to happen. I thought we let our foot off their throats in the last minute, we had them exactly where we wanted them but it’s tough and that’s what finals are about.”
Macaulay also touched on FIBA’s decision calling it “wishy washy decision”
“I think it’s a wishy washy decision from FIBA, the protocols are kinda off wack, they’re no way as stringent as the NHS guidelines, government guidelines & the BBL Covid guidelines. We followed all of those and in the end FIBA just wanted to go with the easy option, Poland has just as bad a situation as we have here. Im disappointed by that decision, it was what we were aiming to do, what our goals were for this season but we are here for the long term and we’ll get back to it and keep playing Lions basketball”
The Lions were scheduled to take on Polish side Anwil Wloclawek on Tuesday but have forfeited the tournament, they will look forward to their February fixtures after they finish their 10-day isolation.
