The hosts continue to impress in this season’s BKT EuroCup, while the visitors are still in search of their first win.
London Lions manage to hold off plucky Cedevita, 101-95
The London Lions managed to come out on top in a battle with Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in Round 8 of the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup Regular Season, winning 101-95 at Copper Box Arena. Petar Bozic’s squad improved to 6-2 following this triumph, while Simone Pianigiani’s men fell to 0-8, despite playing well on the night.
Matt Morgan led the way for London, scoring a game-high 24 points. Gabe Olaseni added a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double, while Conor Morgan had 18 points and Luke Nelson contributed 17. Crucially, one of Conor Morgan’s 2 blocks helped all but wrap up the victory. For Cedevita, Klemen Prepelic netted a team-high 23 points, with Justin Cobbs contributing 19, DJ Stewart 16 and Jaka Blazic 15.
An equal first quarter
Buckets were hard to come by at first, with Matt Morgan’s mid-range jumper being the only make inside the opening 3 minutes, but after that the two teams began to find their groove. London kept going to Olaseni as the hosts looked to make the most of Cedevita missing Karlo Matkovic, but it was Conor Morgan and later Nelson who helped Coach Bozic’s stay ahead, 11-9. The introduction of Prepelic with 3:12 remaining offered another weapon in Cedevita’s offense, but Cobbs, Amadou Sow and Blazic were the ones who helped nudge the visitors ahead, 17-19. However, Nelson’s floater moved him to 7 first-quarter points – the joint most, along with Blazic – and made it 19-19 after 10 minutes.
London weathered Cedevita’s storm
The second quarter got off to a great start for Cedevita, despite Nelson draining a triple to set a 22-19 scoreline, as a pair of three-pointers from Gregor Glas and Prepelic were followed by a reverse layup from Sow, 22-27. That was as far ahead as Cedevita would get, though, as Olaseni and Matt Morgan quickly hit back for London, 27-27. Not long after, another triple from Nelson regained the lead for London, 35-32, before Conor Morgan scored a corner three and Olaseni scored back-to-back baskets – first a dunk, then a layup – to make it a 10-point ballgame, 42-32. Stewart and Blazic tried fighting back for Cedevita, but London went into the halftime break with a 50-43 advantage.
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Cedevita refused to go away
As much as London tried to pull away from Cedevita, the visitors continued to fight back. In particular, after Matt Morgan went 2-for-2 from the line to make it 57-49 with 7:30 remaining in the quarter, Prepelic hit 3 threes to breathe life into Cedevita, 59-58. Then, Cobbs scored a layup to give Cedevita the lead, 59-60, but London fought back through Conor Morgan, Grantham and Matt Morgan, 67-62. Prepelic and Blazic kept impressing for the visitors, reducing the deficit to 69-68 and 71-70, respectively, but Josh Sharma completed his second alley-oop dunk in quick succession and then had a big block on Blazic as London led 73-70 after three quarters.
The two Morgans saw London over the line
London may have led for the entire fourth quarter, but it was anything but easy. Cobbs helped give Cedevita a chance, twice making it a 4-point game, 76-72 and 82-78, before even cutting the gap to 86-84 with a layup with 3:08 left. Jordan Taylor then went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe, but Blazic’s triple made it a 1-point game, 88-87, forcing a London timeout. From there, Matt Morgan scored a layup and went 1-for-2 on free throws, 91-89, before Conor Morgan stepped up with a huge three-pointer from the corner, 94-89, and had an incredible block to stop Shawn Jones from scoring a dunk. The rest of the game was made up of London going to the line, with Matt Morgan going a perfect 4-for-4 inside the final minute, as Cedevita could not get close enough to cause a nervy finish inside Copper Box Arena.