London Lions avenged a close overtime defeat in London a few weeks ago with a crushing defeat of the Newcastle Eagles 79-99.

Newham Recorder: London Lions Justin Robinson in action against Newcastle Eagles (Pic: Graham Hodges)London Lions Justin Robinson in action against Newcastle Eagles (Pic: Graham Hodges) (Image: Archant)

Not only was DeAndre Liggins MVP with a 20 point 14 rebound performance, six Lions were in double figures, led by Two-Time MVP, Justin Robinson’s 23 points and the Lions doubled the head to head with the 20 point win.

The early going saw inside scores for both teams as Evan Maxwell and Chris Tawiah exchanged buckets before Robinson hit 5 unanswered to give the Lions some daylight at 9-12. Fletcher for the home side was finding his men for scores but the Lions kept things ticking over as Kingsley Okoroh grabbed some blocks and recycled some offensive rebounds whilst Kevin Ware hit 5 of his own as the visitors led 23-27 at the end of the quarter.

New signing, Orlando Parker opened his Lions’ account at the start of the quarter on his way to 11 points in the game.

Ed Lucas hit a triple but good scoring from Maxwell and Justin Gordon saw the former tie the game at 36-36 with 5 minutes of the half remaining. Tawiah and Ware combined as the teams went into the break level at 47 apiece.

By now Robinson was controlling matters as Dirk Williams and Liggins profited. Fletcher’s 11 assists in the first half were targeted by Coach Macaulay and his staff as a fountain they must stem.

An and one from Williams sparked a 7-2 Lions run to open the quarter and the Lions would not trail again.

Stifling the Eagles attempted running game it was the Lions who pressed and harried their hosts back court. Louis Sayers tried to respond with his solitary basket of the game before debutant Parker hit 6 in a row as first Williams found him on two lovely assists and Liggins did the same. The quarter ended 61-69.

The fourth saw the Lions begin to run away from Eagles, the pace they played at and the strength inside opened up looks for Robinson and Williams who hit triples before Liggins closed out the proceedings of an 18-30 quarter and a 20 point win on the road. 79-99

Maxwell led the hosts with 23 whilst Gordon had 16 boards to go with his 17 points. The Lions were balanced across the board, Tawiah also chipped in a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.