Leicester Riders progressed to the BBL Championship quarter-finals on Saturday evening courtesy of a thrilling 77-75 victory over Milton Keynes Lions. 

The game started cagily, with Riders just edging the early exchanges to lead 19-17 after one quarter. Seven straight points by Leicester in the second periodr extended Riders' lead out to ten points at 32-22, an advantage they later pulled out to as many as 13 points.

However, Riders' lead was whittled away in the closing stages, as the Lions refused to give up.

With 11 seconds remaining, Nigel Lloyd made a crucial three foul shots to bring the score back to within two points at 77-75. A Leicester turn-over followed as well as a missed three pointer from Lloyd, but after a time-out Lions had the final possession. 

However with 0.08 seconds left on the clock, Siemon's shot rimmed out and although Andrew Alleyne - scorer of a game-high 31 points - then tipped it in to tie the game, the basket was after the buzzer and waved off, thus sending Billy Mims' elated charges into a Monday meeting with Chester.

Purnell Perry led the Riders with 20.