Friday night at the Copper Box Arena in Stratford: there are seconds left of the first quarter and London Lions are neck and neck with Surrey Scorchers. There’s a squeak of rubber sole on reflective floor as Jonathan Komagum ascends into the air, slam dunking the ball into the net seconds before the buzzer. It’s a riotous moment that secures a narrow lead for the Lions. In 20 minutes I’ve gone from struggling to grasp the scoring system to joining 3,000 other fans in screaming the names of players I’ve only just learnt. This game is important: if the Lions win tonight, they win the British Basketball League (BBL) Championship.
Reader, they win. Confetti blasts into the air as a giant silver trophy is brought on to the court. ‘We play hard and we play to win,’ Komagum tells me after the game. The 6ft 9in British-Ugandan is one of the team’s rising stars. He started playing basketball aged 14, first at school before joining local team Peckham Pride. He went on to join the City of London Academy team before landing a prestigious scholarship to play for Florida’s Pensacola State at college level. The past year has been a landmark one for the 24-year-old. He played for the Uganda national team at Fiba’s World Cup Qualifiers before joining the Lions in the summer, but it’s the British game that Komagum is truly passionate about.
