London Lions sink Prometey with improbable comeback

London Lions came back from five down with 25 seconds remaining to defeat Prometey 89-88 in EuroCup action at the Copper Box Arena on Wednesday evening.

Having lost on a last second game winner to Hamburg last week, Lions were on the opposite side of the coin, using a Sam Dekker three with 6.7 seconds remaining to take the victory.

“I am extremely proud. This is a huge win for us, especially in a situation in which he caught up at the end of the game, something that wasn’t easy,” London coach Petar Bozic said after the game.

Asked about his final timeout, called with a 77-84 score with less than 3 minutes left, Bozic said his team had to take one play at a time: “Step by step on the defensive end, which we were successful in a few good possessions and then after that, run in transition. Again, aggressiveness in that very important possession in which we had a steal.”

When Rob Gray split free throws, Prometey led 83-88 with 25.5 seconds left. In need for quick points, Tarik Phillip attacked the rim, drew a foul from Balvin and scored to get a three-point play opportunity. He made the additional free throw for an 86-88 score with 19.3 seconds left.

Prometey put the ball in Caleb Agada’s hands but he was immediately double-teamed. Jordan Taylor got an acrobatic steal and found Luke Nelson, who missed an uncontested shot around the basket. Sam Dekker missed the tip-in and a long rebound went straight to Phillip’s hands, who found Dekker wide open beyond the three-point line.

Gabe Olaseni led London with 19 points and 10 rebounds as Sam Dekker and Conor Morgan each added 16 points as London grabbed its sixth win in seven games to go up to 9-3 in the standings.

Up next, a road game against top-ranked Paris Basketball, as Lions begin a stretch of eight games in 20 days.

Box score.

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