London Lions EuroCup run comes to end at hands of Badalona

Image Credit: London Lions

London Lions suffered a 89-78 defeat at the hands of EuroCup title contenders Joventut Badalona to be knocked out in the opening round of the EuroCup playoffs on Wednesday evening in Spain.

Badalona, a number 2 seed who went 13-5 through the regular season, were helped by Lions’ woeful free throw shooting, as they converted just 17 of 27 for a 63% clip, and rebounding, where they gave up 15 offensive boards.

It brings an end to Lions’ historic European campaign that saw them become the first British team to qualify for the EuroCup playoffs.

“Really proud of the guys,” Lions Head Coach Ryan Schmidt said after the game.

“I thought the fight was there, we’ve talked a lot about games against the better teams is going to come down to the marginal things; missed free throws, offensive rebounds, not being able to capitalise after stops.

“Credit to them, that’s a hell of a team, I expect them to go on a deep run, hats off to them but I’m really proud of how we fought tonight.

EuroCup leading scorer Sam Dekker was also hobbled, playing less than 20 minutes as he continues to rehab from an ankle injury, while Kosta Koufos is absent from the team attending to a personal matter.

Tomislav Zubcic led London with 19 points, Aaron Best had 18, while Jordan Taylor joined them in double figures with 14.

Lions finished the regular season 8-10, for an 8-11 overall record in their debut season in the EuroCup.

Ante Tomic led Badalona with 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Box score.

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