London, 6 October 2026 — London Lions secured their first BKT EuroCup win of the season on Tuesday night, beating La Laguna Tenerife 89-77 at Copper Box Arena to move to 1-1 in EuroCup play.
Thomas Kennedy led the Lions with 26 points and eight rebounds, shooting 12-for-13 from the field, while Keenan Evans added 21 points, including four three-pointers. Devante Jones also finished in double figures with 15 points.
London’s defensive response was key, holding an experienced Tenerife side to 77 points after the visitors entered the matchup as one of the more offensive teams in the competition.
The two sides traded the lead throughout the opening quarter, with Kennedy making an immediate impact inside before Evans connected from three to put London ahead 9-7. Tenerife responded to take a 19-17 lead after ten minutes.
The Lions regained control in the second quarter, with Kennedy continuing to find success around the basket. Maxwell Lewis put London back in front with a transition dunk before Kennedy added another finish to extend the advantage.
Kennedy continued to cause problems inside, converting an and-one before Ethan Price threw down a dunk off an offensive rebound from Joel Scott. London carried a 46-42 lead into halftime.
Evans opened the third quarter with another three before Kennedy added a putback to stretch the lead to nine. Tenerife answered with consecutive threes, but Mo Soluade responded from deep as London maintained its advantage.
Kennedy continued his strong night inside, while Deane Williams produced a huge block to help the Lions take a 65-58 lead into the final quarter.
Jones opened the fourth with a tough jumper as London continued to control the game. Tenerife attempted to close the gap, but Evans hit a three late in the shot clock following good ball movement with Tarik Phillip to make it 76-65.
Phillip and Jones then combined for one of the plays of the night, with Phillip finding Jones in transition before receiving a lob back from Jones and finishing with a slam to energise the Copper Box crowd.
Evans delivered another big moment late in the game, knocking down a step-back three while drawing a foul to put London up 85-72 with 51.6 seconds remaining. The Lions closed out the victory from the free-throw line to secure their first EuroCup win of the campaign.
“We aren’t going to win every game by making offense, but we can win a lot of games by playing defense,” said Lions head coach Tautvydas Sabonis. “And today the second half, the guys understood the plan, they did it, and when you play good defense, offense will come.”
Kennedy praised the team’s response following last week’s EuroCup defeat in Šiauliai.
“The biggest difference was between the team that showed up last week for the EuroCup team, then the team that showed up tonight for the EuroCup, and that was all on us. We had three amazing days of practice leading up to this, we knew what it meant to protect homecourt and have a bounce back, get back to .500, and you saw that for 40 minutes.”
Next Tuesday, the Lions will make the trip to Portland for a landmark matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers.
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