London Lions see unbeaten run end at Plymouth City Patriots

The hosts were seeking only a second win of the season, while Lions were playing their third game of the week after beating Bristol Flyers 95-67 on Friday.

And Plymouth were given a boost as Lions rested Sam Dekker, Luke Nelson and Josh Sharma, with Taylor Johnson and Jacob Wiley making confident starts.

Patriots led by 13 points at the first break, with Wiley continuing to add to the tally in the second quarter as Johnson posed a threat from all over the court.

Lions struggled to protect the ball, finishing the first half with 13 turnovers to just three from Plymouth to trail 56-35.

The visitors asserted themselves soon after the restart, chipping away at the deficit led by Donte Grantham and Bradley Kaboza.

But Plymouth rallied after a shaky spell, with player of the game Johnson spearheading their offence with a total of 24 points in front of a lively Plymouth Pavilion crowd.

London hustled to reduce the lead to 14, but whenever they showed signs of drawing close, the hosts would respond quickly to squash their momentum.

The Patriots have shown clear signs of improvement since signing Spencer Levi and the American forward proved his value again as he scored important buckets down the stretch, while dominating the glass to finish with 13 rebounds.

Each of Plymouth’s starting five scored double digits, while Joe Hart offered a significant punch off the bench with 13 points and five rebounds in under 20 minutes.

Patriots moved the ball far better than Lions, winning the assists battle 22-12 on their way to an unexpected 94-70 victory – the 500th BBL success of head coach Paul James’ career.

Lions boss Petar Bozic will hope they can bounce back at Joventut Badalona in their next EuroCup test on Wednesday, before visiting Leicester on Friday (7.30pm).

*London Lions women ran out 79-60 winners over Gdessa-Barreiro in their latest EuroCup outing last week.

Temi Fagbenle led their scoring with 26 points, as Karlie Samuelson scored 19.

They return to WBBL action at Newcastle on November 18.