London Lions completed a historic clean sweep of British basketball’s domestic silverware on Sunday, dismantling Cheshire Phoenix 95-72 at the Copper Box Arena to claim the Super League Basketball play-off final. Joel Scott led the rout with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and Aaryn Rai added 19 points and seven rebounds as the Lions secured the league title, the trophy and the play-off crown in a single season for the first time in the club’s existence.
The win caps a campaign in which the Lions lost just three competitive games on home soil and never trailed Phoenix by more than a single possession across the 40 minutes in north London. By the final buzzer, head coach Vince Macaulay had emptied his bench and the travelling Cheshire support had begun filing out, their team chasing a deficit that never dipped below 18 in the fourth quarter.
Scott and Rai dictate from the opening tip
Phoenix arrived in London with a plan to slow the tempo and force the Lions into half-court possessions, and for the opening four minutes it worked. Mike Ochereobia’s early three-pointer drew Cheshire level at 9-9, and Malik Ondigo bullied his way to six quick points in the paint.
The Lions’ response was immediate and ruthless. Scott, the BBL’s leading scorer during the regular season, scored 11 points in a three-minute stretch to close the first quarter, mixing pull-up jumpers with a one-handed transition dunk that drew the loudest roar of the night. Rai, the British forward who has carried much of the Lions’ interior load since arriving from Plymouth two years ago, then went to work on the offensive glass, collecting four second-chance buckets before half-time.
By the interval the Lions led 51-34, and the underlying numbers were brutal:
- Lions shot 56 percent from the field in the first half compared to Phoenix’s 38
- Scott and Rai had a combined 28 points before the break, more than the entire Cheshire starting five
- The Lions out-rebounded Phoenix 22-13 and forced 11 turnovers
- Phoenix’s bench, a strength all season, contributed just four points before the third quarter
Kyle Johnson chipped in 14 points and eight assists for the Lions, while Sam Dekker, the former NBA first-round pick whose mid-season signing changed the ceiling of this roster, added 12 points and was a steady defensive presence on Phoenix’s leading scorer Will Perry. Perry, who averaged 17.4 points in the regular season, was held to nine on 3-of-12 shooting.
A trophy haul without precedent
The play-off win completes a sweep that no British club has achieved since the Newcastle Eagles’ double-treble era under Fab Flournoy more than a decade ago. The Lions had already wrapped up the league title with three games to spare and lifted the BBL Trophy in January, beating Manchester Giants in Birmingham. Sunday’s result added the play-off crown, the competition the league regards as its showpiece.
For Macaulay, a fixture of British basketball coaching for three decades, it represents the culmination of a five-year rebuild that began when the Lions were promoted back into the top flight and committed to a full-time professional model. The club’s move to the Copper Box, the 7,500-seat venue built for the 2012 Olympics, has been central to that growth, and Sunday’s crowd of just under 6,800 was the largest for a domestic basketball fixture in England this season.
Phoenix, under head coach Ben Thomas, will leave with their heads up. The Cheshire club had not reached a play-off final since 2011 and finished the regular season as the second-best defensive team in the league. Ondigo, who finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, is one of the most coveted young front-court players in Europe and is expected to attract serious interest from Spanish and German clubs this summer.
What it means going forward
The result lands at a delicate moment for the British game. The Super League Basketball competition, launched last summer to replace the long-running BBL, has spent its first season fighting for stability after a turbulent transition from the previous ownership structure. A dominant, marketable champion in London — playing in a purpose-built arena, regularly broadcast on Sky Sports and now in possession of every domestic trophy — gives the league a story to build around.
For the Lions themselves, the question is whether the squad can be kept together. Scott is out of contract and has been linked with moves to France and Germany, while Dekker’s one-year deal was structured around the play-off run. Rai, signed through 2027, will remain the cornerstone.
“We set out in September to win everything that was in front of us,” Macaulay said in his on-court interview. “Three trophies. Nobody at this club has ever done that. These players will be remembered.”
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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