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London Lions become first British team to reach Eurocup quarter-finals
London Lions made history as the first British team to reach the EuroCup quarter-finals with an emphatic 100-77 victory over Turkey’s Turkish Telekom.
The British Basketball League team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back at Copper Box Arena.
Former NBA guard David Nwaba was the Lions’ top scorer with 19 points, and local center Gabe Olaseni had 18 points and eight rebounds.
The Lions will face Cluj-Napoca in a one-shot showdown in the playoff quarterfinals.
The Romanian team finished the regular season in second place in Group B and advanced to the top eight with a bye.
Having been eliminated at this stage last season, the Lions were determined not to suffer the same fate this time around and got off to a fast start in front of a vociferous home crowd.
They piled up points, leading 60-44 at halftime, and their defense took over after the break, holding Ankara’s Turkish Telekom to 33 second-half points and ending any hopes of a comeback.
“It’s unbelievable. Every day spent with this group is unbelievable for me,” Lions coach Petar Bozic told TNT Sports.
“The players were ready to play. They were very efficient in the first half and our defense in the second half was great.
He added: “The players have really shown a desire to play together and share the ball. That’s the best quality of this team.”
How the Eurocup works
The EuroCup regular season was divided into two groups of 10 teams each.
The top six teams in each group will advance to the playoffs, with the top two teams bypassing the first round of the postseason and advancing directly to the quarterfinals, which will be held March 12-13.
Teams finishing third through sixth would compete in a one-off first-round tie, known as the 8th Final.
The Lions, in their second season back at the EuroCup level, finished third in Group A and had home court advantage against Turk Telekom, who finished sixth in Group B.
The semi-finals (March 26th to April 3rd) and finals (April 9th to 17th) will be played on a best-of-three basis. The higher seeds in each match will receive home court advantage.
EuroCup is the second tier of European basketball, one level below EuroLeague.