THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
History was made on Wednesday night, January 26, at as the London Lions played the first game of any British club in the second-round phase of the FIBA Europe Cup. At the Copper Box Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Park, they took on the Bahcesehir Koleji team from Turkey.
The Lions have been a revelation this season as they progressed through the first round with some outstanding play but have found the going tough so far in this round, losing their first three games. It will now take a monumental turnaround of form, as well as help from other teams, if they are to progress, as they went down to a strong Bahcesehir Koleji team to a final score of 76-61.
The historic occasion wasn’t lost on the fans, and they arrived in great spirit and turned up the volume as the game started. They did their best to lift their team when they were edging closer to causing an upset. It was clear that fans are starting to gain confidence going back into the arena after the Covid restrictions as this was easily the largest attendance for some time. Of course when you add some European flavour it will always swell the numbers, and there were also a fair few supporters of the Turkish side.
The game set off with great pace but lacking composure as the first score didn’t arrive until almost two minutes had been played. The Lions started to gain some confidence early and kept the game finely balanced as they snagged some rebounds and hustled on defense. Eventually, though, the visitors found their groove and went on a 12-3 scoring run which set the tone for the remainder of the game. It was evident from those early exchanges that the Turks were stronger physically as they were strong under both boards, which contributed to them leading 24-13 at the end of the first quarter. From there the Lions grew into the game more but they never got the score to a point where they could gain any true momentum. Having managed to get the deficit down to seven points in the closing stages of the half, they couldn’t keep the tide flowing against them and at the half the lead had stretched back out to a 38-24 score. After a strong showing in the third quarter of play the lead was reduced to 10 points, once again though they couldn’t convert the few errors that were stating to creep into the game by their stronger opponents, and you always felt that Koleji had another gear if necessary.
There were some positives from the loss though. American Isaiah Reese led the Lions with 19 points and 7 rebounds, with 6 assists. He was the engine room and nearly all the good play went through him. He was helped by compatriot Marquis Teague’s 17 points and strong rebounding by Kylor Kelley who dragged in 11 boards. The game was lost in that first period though, and up against a defensively solid team the Lions were always going to struggle to find a way back.
Coach James Vear, taking over after the unexpected departure of legend Vince Macaulay, was taking charge of the team in European competition for the first time. After the game Vear said, “We turned the ball over too much in the first half which led to 17 points off turnovers, that's too much. But we were much better in the second half, and we caused them some problems, we got it down to eight points, and had a couple of shots to get it down to five. If one of them had gone in who knows what would have happened? They’re a very good team, arguably the best team in our group, and the positive is that we can take that from this game. We want defensive identity and we definitely found that in the second half.”
Vear was quick to praise the fans as well, as this game was the first of three in quick succession over the coming weeks: “It was great to see so many fans at the game. European nights are amazing at the Copper Box, the guys feed off the energy of the crowd. The European games are special not only for Lions, but for British basketball.”
The adventure in Europe has been one full of drama, and it's not over yet for the Lions, with two more games to come: next Tuesday 1 February against Avtodor Saratov (Russia), and then the following Wednesday 9 February when the Bakken Bears (Denmark) come to the Copper Box.
Get along and support the Lions if you can, and in doing so you’ll be part of a fantastic sporting community, as well as a great evening’s entertainment.
