Cheshire Phoenix 70-76 London Lions

Match #797 | 31/01/2016 | Cheshire Oaks Arena | (British Basketball League)
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London Lions leapfrogged Cheshire Phoenix in the British Basketball League table with an away win.

Alex Owumi top scored with 23 points for the visitors, who handed a debut to recent signing Olu Babalola.

It was my first BBL game of the season, and a good chance to catch up with David Aliu, who played for the treble-winning Mersey Tigers when I worked for them some five years ago. Another player from that team also featured in the game, Jamal Williams turning out for London.

Cheshire were largely disappointing and were always chasing their opponents tail throughout.

Kinu Rochford was their go to man – a point proven by his subsequent award of BBL Player of the Month for January – even if his wearing of the shirt number 0 is one of the more frustrating sights in sport.

It wasn’t the greatest quality of games, though there was a fine moment where an apparently injured Zach Gachette managed to grab a loose ball while lay on the ground and pass it up for a team-mate to race away unopposed for a breakaway basket.

The Lions always had Cheshire at arms length from the early stages, and even in the final two minutes, typically broken up by fouls, they never really looked in danger of suffering defeat.

Both of these sides are likely to feature in the BBL end of season play-offs, though on this performance, neither will be troubling the teams at the top.