Cheshire Phoenix won the BBL Trophy beating favourites London Lions 82-68 in Glasgow to win their second title since they re-formed in 2012.
Larry Austin scored 23 points for Cheshire and Namon Wright added 18 as the Phoenix shut down London’s offence.
Cheshire took control of the game in the second quarter and produced a strong defensive finish to win.
Dirk Williams scored 24 points for London and captain Justin Robinson and Lorenzo Cugini added 12.
London, who have played in European competition this season, led the early exchanges but Cheshire, led by Michael Ocherobia and most valuable player Austin, came back strong and led 26-16 early in the second quarter on a three-pointer by Wright.
Wright’s three-point play on a pass from GB guard Teddy Okereafor gave the Phoenix a 52-40 lead at the start of the second half.
The Lions, led by Robinson and Cugini, reduced that to six points by the end of the third quarter but then failed to score for more than four and a half minutes of the fourth, by which time Austin and Wright had added 13 more Phoenix points.
“That was our mindset coming in – it was all about defence,” said Austin. “Now we’ve got six games left in the league – we’ll try to win as many as possible and then start worrying about the play-offs.”
London scored just seven points in the final quarter to miss out on retaining the trophy after winning the 2021 final in Leicester.
“Even going into the fourth quarter down six points, we were confident we still had a good run in us,” said Lions’ Cugini. “We just weren’t strong enough.”
