Ukrainian side Prometey, which plays its home games in Latvia, lost its first-ever BKT EuroCup regular-season game at Riga Arena on Wednesday night.
London Lions made a statement by triumphing at Prometey
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The London Lions are roaring loud in this season’s BKT EuroCup Regular Season. Now in its second year in the competition, London has got off to a 3-0 start, with its most recent win being an 87-99 triumph against Prometey Slobozhanske at Arena Riga on Wednesday night.
It was a night full of celebrations for the English team, as Sam Dekker returned to action for the first time this season and head coach Petar Bozic was able to rejoin his players after missing Round 2 – a 94-100 win at Veolia Towers Hamburg – with an illness. In London’s 22nd-ever game in the EuroCup, its win against Prometey might be the most impressive of all.
Recovering from a tough start
When Prometey raced into a 30-19 lead after the first 10 minutes, it would have been easy for London to feel down in the dumps. After all, Prometey went 7-0 at Arena Riga in last year’s regular season, with its only home defeat coming on the floor of Zalgiris Kaunas, Zalgirio Arena, where it was 1-1. Prior to Wednesday night, the Ukrainian side defeated Hamburg 97-77 in its 2023-24 home opener at Arena Riga in Round 1.
Yet, London quickly flipped the script with an offense-laden second quarter in which it outscored the hosts 15-29, making it a 45-48 ballgame at halftime. Wednesday night’s visitors went on to outscore Prometey 20-25 and 22-26 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, leading to the hosts’ first-ever regular-season defeat on its home floor.
The unity that the London squad, led by team captain Dekker, showed after the game is something that Coach Bozic has brought to the club since his appointment over the summer. The terrific work done by the front office also deserves praise, as new additions Matt Morgan, Donte Grantham, Conor Morgan and Gabe Olaseni are all flourishing in London’s colors.
Matt Morgan impresses again
In particular, Matt Morgan followed up a Round 2 MVP performance by once again leading the charge on offense, scoring a game-high 21 points. Despite being a EuroCup rookie, the 25-year-old has taken to the competition like a duck to water, averaging 17.0 points through his first three games. For a London team that was overly reliant on Dekker’s scoring last season, the emergence of Morgan has come as a sigh of relief.
“This was a big win for us,” Morgan stated in his post-game flash interview. “They made a run towards the end, but I think we all love each other and we all play for each other, so I think that’s what got us through. We made big shots at the end – Conor, Sam, Gabe, Donte, everybody, Tarik [Phillip]. We all got this win.”
As noted above, Morgan is not the only signing making an impact. Grantham finished the night with a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double, Conor Morgan – the only new addition with EuroCup experience – posted 15 points, while Olaseni added 10 points. Then, Dekker marked his return to action with 17 points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the final buzzer to put the icing on top of the cake.
“I think, for us, it’s a hard-working team victory,” Coach Bozic commented afterward. “Whoever stepped onto the floor brought something tonight, something good. The energy was great on the bench and the floor was great.
“They were a little bit more physical [in the first quarter] and we needed that adjustment time. After that, I think we took over.”
Another big test on the way
And take over London did. Next up for the Lions is the visit of Paris Basketball to Copper Box Arena next Tuesday night.
Both teams are 3-0 to start the season, and they ended up developing a bit of a rivalry last season, as shown by the spiciness in their Round 9 encounter in London. Paris ended up winning that game 80-93, but London exacted revenge in Round 18 by downing the French outfit 85-96 at Halle Georges Carpinter.
There are fun matchups everywhere you look, but none more so than at the guard position, where London’s Matt Morgan will come head-to-head with Paris’s TJ Shorts. The latter is averaging 17.3 points, 8.0 assists and 2.7 steals in his rookie EuroCup campaign, so keeping him quiet will be London’s main task.
It is therefore key that London doesn’t get off to a slow start, even if it does have the ability to bounce back, something Morgan himself alluded to: “We’ve come out with slow starts before and we’ve ended up waking up and playing harder, so I think we just got back to what we do: play defense, run in transition. We just stayed together, played together and we came out with this win.”
Many basketball fans from across the continent to tune in for London vs. Paris next week. Two of Europe’s next powerhouse teams are ready to battle, and both are flying high. It should be one hell of a game.