London Lions’ slow start proved to be costly as they went down 78-68 at the hands of Buducnost Voli Podgorica in Montenegro on Wednesday night in EuroCup action.
Fresh off a domestic title after winning the BBL Cup at the weekend, London could not ride the momentum and paid the price for an awful start.
They missed their opening 13 shots from the floor and scored just seven points in the first period to be chasing from behind the rest of the way.
“Tough, tough loss for us,” Lions Head Coach Ryan Schmidt said after the game.
“It comes down to the little things. They were really good – that’s a good team, we knew that coming in here. We had a tough game the last time we played them, our first go at it. It’s frustrating, we keep making a lot of little mistakes that end up being costly.
“12 turnovers in the first half, they scored 16 points off that, I think the margin was 11 at the halftime, then again, offensive rebounds, they go up 17, we miss 11 free throws.
“You can’t do those things and expect to win games like this, we’ve got a lot to clean up. It starts with me, I’ve got to a better job of harping on the details because until we get this stuff better the results will be the same against the better teams in this competition.”
🎥 A highlight reel assist and finish from @LondonLions' duo Jordan Taylor and Josh Sharma 🥵
📺 BT Sport 1 HD | @EuroCup pic.twitter.com/OWNg7VJmgU
— BT Sport (@btsport) February 1, 2023
Sam Dekker continued to prove to be one of the best players in the competition with a 27-point, 8-rebound outing, while Ovie Soko added 11 as the only other London player in double figures.
Buducnost (8-5) – who secured their playoff spot with the win – were able to benefit from a more balanced workload as Erick Green netted 16 points, Trae-Bell Haynes chipped in with 14 and Cameron Reynolds added 11.
London Lions dropped to 5-8 and sit in seventh place in Group B. With five games remaining, a top eight finish is required to advance to the knockout playoff stages.
They return home next week to face Hamburg on February 8th at 19:30 at the Copper Box.
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