LONDON, March 4 (Xinhua) -- New Jersey Nets defeated Toronto Raptors 116-103 at the O2 Arena in London on Friday, winning the first ever NBA regular season game held in Europe.

Nets led the first quarter 27-23, but was taken over by their Canadian opponents 51:47 to end the first half.

In the sold-out arena, more than 18,000 audience cheered for both teams without bias, but it seemed that some of them were more excited for the performance of the dancers, stunt men and mascots.

The two teams fought intensely in in the third quarter and Nets completely overwhelmed the Raptors in the last quarter.

Nets center Brook Lopez led the Nets with 25 points while DeMar DeRozan became the top scorer of the match with 30 points.

The two teams will play at O2 again on Saturday.

Since 1990, there have been 13 regular season games in Japan and Mexico but never in Europe until Firday night.

The O2 Arena will host the basketball finals during the 2012 London Olympic Games and several NBA players including super star Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers had been warming up here in pre-season games.