Having beaten Manchester Giants in the first round, the loss of Mike Martin with an Achilles injury in the second quarter proved crucial as the Big Cats had matched the visitors until that point.

But the home side still put on a decent display, with AJ Roberts leading the way for them as theA merican guard had a couple of huge dunks and won the game MVP trophy presented by Brentwood Leisure Trust CEO Roger Davinson, finishing with 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists .

Jamie Hayes opened the scoring with a lay-up off Roberts’ assist and treys for Darrell Bethune and Roberts saw the hosts lead 10-6 after four minutes..

That proved to be as good as it got for the hosts despite Bethune putting them 15-14 ahead with three minutes on the clock, and it took a Martin basket to cut the deficit to 20-19 a the first break .

Roberts kept his side in touch with a tip-in early in the second period and Hayes tied the score at 24 as he converted a triple but the visitors answered with a 12-0 run as Leopards were held scoreless for more than six minutes .

Bethune broke the run from downtown and Hayes hit a jump shot to cut the deficit to 39-29 at half-time .

With Martin out of action the second half proved to be a long one for the home side as Peter Hooley took control of the game, hitting three triples in a 17-4 to open the third period, effectively killing off the game, and despite treys from Behune and Hayes the visitors had the game effectively sewn up at 77-50 going into the final break .

Hooley hit his eighth trey of the game to open the fourth period but coach Ogunjimi was able to give some valuable court time to youngster Dom Scott-Robinson and Shaq Lewis while Justin Hitchman hit four points as he continued his comeback from injury.

Bethune finished with 14 points and five boards, with Hayes adding 12 points and nine rebounds. Hooley had a season-high 33 points for Raiders .

2011 – Leopards win it in overtime

Coventry Crusaders 76 (20,34,52,71) Leopards 83 (23,44,53,71) After overtime

LEOPARDS moved up to joint third in EBL Division One with an overtime win at Coventry Crusaders, on Saturday. They did it the hard way, letting a ten point half-time lead slip away against the strugglers, before dominating in the extra period.

Ousman Krubally led the scoring for Mark Clark’s team for the fourth straight game with 26 points, half of which came in the final three minutes of the first period. Josh Johnson continued his good post-Christmas form with 14 points, with Leigh Greenan adding 12 and Simeon Esprit 11. For the home side, big man Casey Crawford proved unstoppable at times with 33 points, but was given little support as only Siman Stewart and Roy Owen joined him in double figures with ten apiece.

Stewart opened the scoring for the hosts, but Greenan hit a free-throw to spark a 5-0 run from the visitors.

A pair of massive treys from Crawford helped the home side take a 16-10 lead before Krubally came of the bench to join the action, and the American forward scored all of the Leopards remaining points as they went into the first break 23-20 ahead.

Borja Pintor Henningsen opened the second period scoring for the Big Cats, and a trey from Ryan Alexis kept them ahead as they reached the midway stage in the quarter 30-26 ahead.

The visitors led throughout the quarter, with Keelan Cairns also converting from downtown, and a single free-throw from Greenan sent them into the locker room with a 44-34 half-time lead.

The third quarter again proved to be Leopards’ Achilles heal as they saw their lead all but wiped out, scoring just nine points.

Crusaders scored the six of the first eight points, but baskets from Greenan and Johnson restored the visitors lead, but they poor shot selection saw them fail to score a field goal in the final five minutes of the quarter as Coventry went on an 11-3 run.

Scores from Martyn Gayle and Crawford opened the fourth period as Crusaders took their first lead since the eighth minute, but having scored only three points in the middle two quarter, Krubally burst back into life with five points in a 7-2 Leopards run which them saw take a 60-59 lead with five minutes of regulation time left.

Payne buried a trey to put Crusaders back in the lead, only for Esprit and Cairns to both convert from the Land of Plenty to put Leopards 66-62 heading into the final three minutes.

But while Crusaders have only one win this season, but have been involved in plenty of close games, and they hit back with six unanswered points to take a 68-66 lead into the final 90 seconds.

Esprit hit a pair at the line to tie things at 68 with 40 seconds remaining, but Casey looked to have won the game with 21 seconds left when he converted an and-one after a spin move saw him fouled by Greenan.

A timeout from coach Clark followed, and it was Krubally who sent the game into overtime with eight seconds left as he drained a trey from the top of the key before some tough defence saw Crusaders fail to get off a shot at the end of regulation time.

Casey opened the overtime scoring, but that proved to be Crusaders only points until the final minutes, and six-from-eight foul shooting by Johnson together with baskets from Greenan and Krubally put the Big Cats 81-73 up going into the final minute.

Casey hit his third trey of the game, but Josh Sharlow wrapped things up at the line as Leopards collected their fifth win in eight league games.

Leopards: O Krubally 26, J Johnson 14, L Greenan 12, S Esprit 11, J Sharlow 6, S Esprit 6, B Pintor Henningsen 5, R Alexis 4, D Norton, L Olaniyi (DNP)