Cheshire Phoenix head coach John Coffino hailed his side's 94-82 success at London Lions on Friday night as a 'huge victory'.

The Nix put in an excellent team display at both ends of the court at the Copper Box Arena in the capital to take the head-to-head over Vince Macauley's Lions and all but assure themselves of fourth place in the BBL and home advantage in the end-of season play-offs.

Dustin Salisbery paced the visitors scoring as he drained 23 in the win while Demond Watt hit 20 points and Taylor King continued his rich vein of form with an impressive double-double of 19 points and 12 boards.

The win saw the Nix leapfrog Leicester Riders into third, although Rob Paternostro's men, who were beaten by Newcastle Eagles in the BBL Trophy at the weekend, have five games in hand on Coffino's men, who put together an excellent run in the final quarter in London to seal the success.

"It was a huge victory for us because it was an important game because of where London were in the standings," said Coffino, who welcomed back centre Paul Sturgess following his recent suspension.

"It was fun to watch. It was a very well balanced team performance where we had contributions from every one of the guys. It was good to see guys share the ball and our defence, especially in the second half, was excellent.

"London are a tough team to face. They have a very talented group of guys and we were beaten down there on Tuesday night earlier in the season, so it was a little bit of redemption for us as a group.

"I was happy for Simeon (Naydenov) as he was excellent and gave us a great contribution from the bench (10 points, two assists) and showed more confidence. He'll be rewarded with more minutes on the court the more contribution he gives us."

Veteran leader David Aliu put in a typically efficient shift as he hit 15 points and pulled down five rebounds while the Nix were solid from the free-throw line as they shot 74% from their trips to the charity stripe.

With the Nix heading to Glasgow Rocks on Sunday (5pm) for a televised clash at the Emirates Arena, Coffino is keen to see his players find their groove at the end of the regular season to ensure they head into the play-offs in the best possible form.

"We are getting into play-off mode now and we want to finish the season as well as we can," said Coffino, who said he hoped to have Mike DiNunno available again for the regular season run-in as he bids to shake of a niggling injury.

"We don't go at hit hard at practice at this stage of the season as we don't want to risk guys. The likes of Newcastle and Leicester have deep rosters and they can keep guys fresh. That's what we would like, and we are getting there, but we want to make sure all of the guys are fit and game ready and able to contribute for the play-offs."

Phoenix scorers: Dustin Salisbery (23pts), Demond Watt (20pts), Taylor King (19pts), David Aliu (15pts), Simeon Naydenov (10pts), Martyn Gayle (6pts), Adrien Sturt (1pt).

Lions scorers: Lovell Cook (30pts), Zaire Taylor (17pts), Makal Stibbins (16pts), Joe Ikhinmwin (8pts), Drew Sullivan (6pts), Ian Salter (5pts).