Towers fly flag in crucial Swede tester
Haribo London Towers suffered what is probably a fatal blow to their ambitions of making the last 32 of this year's Saporta Cup when the capital side went down 67-78 to Plannja of Sweden at Crystal Palace.
Plannja took a 72-65 win earlier in the pool stages and repeated their feat on their British trip, allowing the Towers only a brief lead in the early stages before embarking on a 0-7 run which helped them to pull 27-34 ahead at half time.
The hosts scored the first five points of the second half but the Towers quickly rebounded as Danny Lewis - en route to a game high 20 points - hit back to back three pointers to cut the scoreline to 35-42.
But the British side were always kept at arms length by the visitors, whose guard Larsson lived up to Towers coach Ron Abegglen's pre-match prediction by marshalling the victor's offensive weaponry.
"We did play really well and didn't let London get anything for free," commented Plannja coach Magarity afterward.
Eric Coates had 18 for Plannja, most coming also in the second half.
Already qualified Darussafaka inflicted a 60-64 defeat on Adecco Milano to leave the Italians in a precarious fourth place in the table.
Aalst's 78-82 upset victory over Split on Wednesday further damaged Towers chances, the result effectively meaning that only two further victories for the Londoners combined with two defeats for Milan will see them progress.
The Londoners now face group leaders Darussafaka at home next week but will need to upset the Turks to carry any hopes into their final group game away at Okapi Aalst on December 14.
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