London Lions go clear at the top of the BBL Championship after victory

London Lions extended their lead at the top of the BBL Championship after a 91-74 victory over the Glasgow Rocks on Saturday.

A free-flowing first-half display saw the Lions up by 20 points as they consigned the Rocks to their fifth loss in a row, despite a spirited display that saw a marked improvement from the Glasgow side in the second half.

The Lions opened the game strongly and flew out the gates in the first half with some excellent basketball, and were led by Dirk Williams' 17 points, as five Lions players reached double figures in points for the game.

The Rocks were lifted with the introduction of Ronald Delph as they looked to claw back a large Lions lead. Delph posted a double-double off the bench and gave the Rocks an outlet in the paint, finishing off some strong alley-oop in the process.

Glasgow came out stronger in the second half, however, and managed to cut the Lions' lead in half, but they could not climb back from the sizeable first-half lead as London ran out comfortable winners at the Copper Box Arena.

London's victory followed their surprise win at the Newcastle on Friday - beating the Eagles by 20 points as centre Chris Tawiah dropped a career-high of 26 points in what was a dominating and ruthless performance.

Williams added huge numbers, scoring 24 for the Lions, while Fahro Alihodzic and Kevin Ware both played big roles off the bench.

There was a rare bad day at the office by Rahmon Fletcher's standards, as the Eagles star failed to get into double-digits for scoring or assists, but Evan Maxwell's 23 points, Cortez Edwards' 19 points, and Justin Gordon's 17 points almost pulled the Eagles back within touching distance - but in the end, the Lions' quality proved just too much.

Manchester Giants beat rivals Cheshire Phoenix for the third time in the 2020/21 season, with star man Breaon Brady putting on a show for the Sky Sports cameras, dropping 18 points and grabbing 17 rebounds in an exceptional double-double performance.

All five starters for the Giants reached double-figures for scoring, while the returning David Ulph impressed off the bench, grabbing nine rebounds and scoring nine points too.

In-form Jimbo Lull only really got going in the second quarter for the Cheshire Phoenix, but after his third bucket, the points kept coming from him as he led the game in scoring with 23 - but his and the rest of the Nix's efforts were in vain as the Giants took the win back to Manchester.

Also on Friday night, the Worcester Wolves edged past the Glasgow Rocks in what turned out to be a tight contest, after the Rocks kept trying to peg the Wolves back - with new man Christian Keeling putting up an impressive performance with 20 points and six assists to his name.

But it was experienced star Matthew Bryan-Amaning that led the game in scoring, dropping 21 points. Jordan Williams' 18 points and Brandon Anderson's 17 meant that it was by no means a solo mission.

Keeling was joined by Isa Brandon, Ronald Delph and Boban Jacdonmi in reaching double figures for scoring - and despite the defeat, there were plenty of encouraging signs on show.

The Round tipped off on Thursday as the Leicester Riders took home a six-point victory away at the Plymouth Raiders.

It was a game that was close from start to finish, and when the Riders looked like pulling away at the end of the third with an 11-point lead, the Raiders dragged themselves back into it early in the fourth.

Sunday's two games between Surrey Scorchers and Plymouth Raiders and Cheshire Phoenix and Sheffield Sharks were both postponed. Under the Covid-19 rule amendments, both fixtures will be rescheduled as soon as possible.

Cheshire's game was postponed via a statement that said with 'an abundance of caution' after Scorchers game was postponed on advice of Surrey's club doctor, in line with the BBL's return to play guidelines, following the return to play of multiple players and coaches after testing positive for Covid-19.