London Lions final regular season game saw Glasgow Rocks gain first blood in an 80-77 scoreline in a British Basketball League fixture.

The Lions travelled to Glasgow for what was the first of three games the sides will play over the next seven days due to both sides being in the play-offs.

And despite the Lions being three places below Glasgow in the league, the visitors more than held their own for three-quarters of basketball before the fourth quarter saw them being outplayed and outscored 26-9 and the victory being snatched away.

Both Rashad Hassan (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Navid Niktash (14 points, 11 rebounds) recorded double-doubles in a game which saw the Lions lead for much of the game, by as many as 20 points.

The Lion's cold spell in the final period was highlighted by problems from behind the arc, managing to only sink 1 of 9 attempts despite having been hovering at around 60% during the third quarter.

Kai Williams started the game strongly, netting 11 points to help the Lions win the first quarter 16-25. But despite periods of strong action, Glasgow were never looking shell shocked as Cheshire did on Friday night.

Instead, both sides had flashes of quality play that promise a thrilling playoff series next weekend.

The Lions kept working to try and build a lead in the second quarter but were repeatedly frustrated by Glasgow who kept closing the gap. It was too close to comfort before Alex Owumi settled nerves with back to back 3 point shots halfway through the period.

While London had the better of the remaining minutes of the half, it was more a challenge of who had the fewest turnovers, with the Lions ending the half up 37-49 and with 8 turnovers compared with the Rocks 10.

The third quarter was much of the same for the Lions, adding to the lead. But worryingly for the visitors, Zaire Taylor was repeatedly choosing the harder downtown shot, rather than allowing teammates to go in for the layup.

But in the fourth quarter, the Rocks did the damage. Nigel Lloyd will be wanting his team to watch the tape again and identify where it all went wrong ahead of the Rocks visit to the Copper Box tomorrow (tip off at 7.30pm).

There was a better result for the Lions last Friday as an explosive 35 point first quarter propelled them to a 101-89 victory over the Cheshire Phoenix.

Rashad Hassan (25), Navid Niktash (23) and Alex Owumi (20) all scored over 20 points, with Niktash scoring 18 of his in the first quarter alone.

A much stronger offensive performance was coupled with some strong rebounding and the Lions managed to gain 17 points by forcing turnovers from their opponents.