Scorchers fall to an undefeated Lions side

A sell out crowd filled the stands at Surrey Sports Park but it was not enough to get the home side over the line against an undefeated London Lions.

Surrey still yet to play with a squad at full strength this season as leading scorer Stanley Davis Jr sat this one out with an ankle injury sustained during last week’s quarter final against Manchester.

Despite a thunderous opening bucket from Legend Robertin the Scorchers struggled early on in the first quarter.

A big three-pointer from Caylin Raftopoulos who stepped into the starting line up followed by another from Lamar Hamrick help the home side find their feet.

But a moment of gratitude for long serving Scorchers Captain Tayo Ogedengbe as he sunk his first 2 points of the game hitting his 5000 career points milestone.

Scorchers trail behind after the first quarter by 7 points.

New signing Jules Dang-Akodo steps in the game in the second quarter to score his first points as a Scorcher with a triple from deep. The home side struggling in transition defence as Isaiah Reese and Dirk Williams execute combining for 30 points at the half way mark.

Stepping up taking on the scoring load with team mate Davis Jr out, Lamar Hamrick netted himself 17 points in the first half. Saiquan Jamison also poured down 12 rebounds in the opening 20 minutes as he continues to lead the BBL on the boards.

There was end to end transitional play to open the second half, both teams unable to find the net until Washburn headed to the line to knock down a pair of free throws. Jamison replies with a back door cut to the hoop with 2 points securing his double double on the night.

Cutting down the lead to 10 points Legend rocks the rim with a huge dunk plus the foul. Reese returns with two back to back triples for the Lions making it difficult for the home side trying to chip away at the deficit.

Heading into the final quarter down by 11 points Martelle McLemore turned up the energy on defence with a steal and Lions giving away an unsportsmanlike foul. Tayo followed this and knocked down a fadeaway jump shot off a wing penetration to make it a 10 point game with 6 minutes to go.

As fans felt a comeback on its way Scorchers turned the ball over across multiple possessions diminishing their chances of fighting back.

A steal from Lions followed by a fast break two hand tomahawk from Dirk Williams put the nail in the coffin. Scorchers played the game out taking a 72 – 85 loss to the London Lions.