London exacts revenge against Paris, 85-96

The London Lions closed the 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season with a win after beating Paris Basketball 85-96 at Halle Georges Carpinter on Tuesday night. The first meeting between these two in England in December resulted in a Paris victory, but London got some revenge in the French capital this time around. Following this result, London ended the regular season with an 8-10 record, while Paris finished 10-8.
Tomislav Zubcic led the way with 24 points for London, which was without star forward Sam Dekker and center Kosta Koufos due to injury. Luke Nelson added 17 points, Vojtech Hruban had 14 and Jordan Taylor paired 13 points with 8 assists. Paris, which could not call upon the injured Kyle Allman, was paced by Tyrone Wallace's 22 points. Juhann Begarin finished with 18 points, Aamir Simms tallied 14 and Ismael Kamagate recorded a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double in the defeat.
In a back-and-forth start to the game, London was the first team to exert some control on proceedings, as Taylor recorded an assist and scored 4 points to put the visitors ahead, 3-8. Paris responded through Begarin and Kamagate, 7-8, but an inspired Taylor stepped up in Dekker's absence to put London on the right track. Taylor struck from deep to take his personal tally to 11 points and knot the game at 15-15, then his steal and assist to Miye Oni saw London jump back in front, 15-17. A strong finish to the quarter resulted in London leading by 10, 19-29, after the first 10 minutes.
London appeared to have revenge on its mind and it did a good job of holding off Paris in the second quarter, as Nelson and Hruban stepped up with some important buckets, 23-36. Even as Paris mounted a charge, London found itself 13 points ahead, 34-47, after a triple by Hruban with 2:49. In the remainder of the half, however, Paris managed to go on a 15-2 run to make it a tied game at halftime, 49-49.
Game Videos
The momentum had swung totally in Paris's favor just before the break, but afterward, London did a good job of staying calm. Zubcic used his experience to nudge the visitors back in front, 49-51, but Begarin continued to cause problems for the London defense and scored 4 straight points to put Paris narrowly ahead, 57-56. Yet, a three-point play by Zubcic and a two-pointer by Taylor gave London another lead, 57-60, and the visitors closed the third quarter with a 66-74 advantage.
In the final quarter, Begarin and Wallace did their all to try and reverse the scoreline, but London's trio of Zubcic, Hruban and Nelson stepped up again, again and again, 77-86. Amar Gegic scored 5 points in a row to make it a 4-point ball game, 82-86, with four minutes left, but Josh Sharma, Zubcic and Aaron Best responded, 82-93. Whatever Paris had to throw at London, the visitors had an answer. And, to put the cherry on top of the cake for London, Zubcic nailed a walk-off triple to make it an 11-point win, 85-96.