Trophy time for Lions as crunch semi-final arrives

This weekend is the biggest of the season so far for Lions who are eyeing a spot in one of British basketball’s biggest games.

Plymouth Raiders are the opponents in a two-leg BBLTrophy semi-final clash and if Mike New’s Lions prevail, they will be one win away from some silverware.

Lions host Raiders on Friday night with a 7.30pm tip-off and they will then travel to Plym­outh on Sunday for the all-important second leg.

The winner on aggregate will advance to the final and face either Sheffield or Newcastle.

To reach this stage Lions had to battle through a group stage including fierce rivals Leic­ester Riders and London Leopards, and head coach New has got his side pumped for the major occasion.

It will be a tough test as Plymouth are riding high in the British Basketball League and have already been beaten finalists in the BBLCup competition this season.

Lions lost in Plymouth earlier this term but were well in the game for large periods

New told MKNEWS:“We are hungry to play and hungry to achieve our goal of getting to the trophy final.

“It’s definitely our biggest two games of the season and firstly we want to win our home game, and win it by as big a margain as possible.

“But we are really confident about playing in Plymouth as well.

“They have the biggest budget in the league but when we went there earlier this season we played well.”

Lions will be hoping for a packed arena on Friday to help the team gain a crucial advantage before their trip to Devon.

This weekend was one of mixed fortunes for Lions who came up against two sides who they have already defeated this season.

The league match-ups with Dur­ham Wildcats and Guild­ford Heat were important ones as both sides are below Lions in the British Basketball League table, meaning New’s side had the chance to increase the lead over their rivals.

Things started well with a home victory over BBL new boys DurhamWildcats but Lions were unable to make it a double delight as Guildford triumphed on their own court on Sunday afternoon.

Victory over Durham temporarily moved Lions into joint fifth position with Australian Adrien Sturt leading the scorers with 22 points.

But they were comfortably beaten by Guildford in the second of the weekend’s games, despite opening up an early 15-6 advantage.

A 14-2  burst by Heat in the second quarter opened up a sizeable gap and although Lions battled gamely to close it, Guildford were always out of reach.

Star man Demarius Bolds was expelled from the game late on for a foul on Tayo Ogedengbe, which the Lions have appealed.

The result means that Lions are seventh in the league table going into the crunch trophy games.