BBL Trophy final: London City Royals beat London Lions in overtime 90-82

London City Royals won a title in their first BBL season beating London Lions 90-82 in overtime in the Trophy final.

Matthew Bryan-Amaning led the Royals' scoring with 26 points and Ashley Hamilton added 25 points in the first final to go to overtime in BBL history.

Justin Robinson led the Lions with 20 points and Ladarius Tabb and Brandon Peel added 17 points each.

The first all-London final in 22 years finished 72-72 at the end of regular time and was close throughout.

Neither team achieved a double-figure lead at any stage of the match.

Missing two American players - Wes Washpun and Deyshonee Much - due to visa problems, Royals came back from hitting just 11 points in a generally low-scoring first quarter to take the lead in the second 24-23.

Hamilton, recently restored to the Great Britain squad, hit 14 points in the second quarter on his way to the Most Valuable Player award and the Lions, themselves without centre Kervin Bristol because of an irregular heartbeat, led 38-36 at half-time.

The Royals retook the lead after the interval with Bryan-Amaning again dominant close to the basket and they maintained that with an impressive cameo from former Lions guard Orlan Jackman.

The Lions forged back ahead 69-62 with four and a half minutes remaining, but Hamilton again brought the Royals back into the game with two baskets in a 7-0 run.

Lions captain Joe Ikhinmwin looked to have won it for Lions with a three-pointer 24 seconds from time, but Ed Lucas matched that with six seconds left to send the game into an extra period.

The Royals hit the first eight points of overtime before Ikhinmwin hit another three. But the closest the Lions could get was three points, Bryan-Amaning fittingly scoring the final basket with two seconds remaining.

"The guys really wanted it," said Royals coach Jay Williams. "We said that we couldn't afford to freelance - we wanted to run but he had to do so under some structure. We stopped them getting second-chance efforts by rebounding the ball.

"Matt [Bryan-Amaning] was amazing, Ash [Hamilton] was awesome, Will Neighbour came in and gave us some points but [point guard] Elvisi Dusha was the man when it came to closing out the game. But it was a full team effort."

"We should have put the game away much earlier and we had it won," said Lions coach Vince Razaq, referring to the first Ikhinmwin three-pointer.

"But then Lucas came up with an unbelievable shot and Neighbour took it home for them in the extra period. But there were 21 British players on the floor tonight and that has to be a good thing."