Kent Crusaders punched their ticket to the next round of the National Cup with an emphatic 105-53 win over London Lituanica at Brompton Academy on Sunday afternoon.

Taking advantage of a short-handed Lituanica side, Crusaders made a statement of intent early as they jumped out to a 15-2 lead in the opening three minutes of the game and never looked back.

Crusaders kept piling the pressure on, led by Dan Akin and Sean Nealon-Lino – who had 18 points-a-piece, and in the second half held Lituanica to just 21 points.

“I thought we played really well,” said Kent Head Coach Lloyd Gardner.

“It was probably our best overall performance of the season, we got good play at both ends of the floor – something we’ve been inconsistent with up until now. But we had a good defensive effort, coupled with the fact we scored the ball freely, which we’ve been doing the last few games so I’m very pleased.

“Lituanica were short handed, missing a couple of the key guys, but I still think the roster they brought had the talent to beat us and cause us problems but we did what we had to, to win convincingly and move forward. ”

Kent will now face Essex Leopards in the fourth round of the Cup.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to test ourselves in the next round of the Cup against another Division 1 team,” added Gardner.

Amin Adamu and Tim Shodipo added 15 each for Kent, whilst Lituanica were led by 27 from Trepocka.al Cup at 2pm at Brompton Academy.