2013 – Final beckons for Leopards
Leopards reached the National Trophy final for the first time with a 92-84 victory at Hemel Storm on Saturday evening.
Led by a career high 38 points from Simon Cummings, the Big Cats led for almost the whole game despite the hosts’ never-say-die attitude.
Cummings added five rebounds and four assists, while Greg Hernandez finished with 25 points and seven rebounds, and Carl Josey added 11 and nine boards for Leopards as they never looked back after a 28-17 first period.
They will attempt to lift their fourth piece of silverware in 13 months when they play either Tees Valley Mohawks or Bristol Academy Flyers in the final at Braunstone Leisure Centre, Leicester, on Saturday February 23.
Louis Sayers led the home side with 29 points while Williamze Omope added 21.
Josey opened the scoring for the Big Cats after Hernandez had won the tip, but Omope replied with the first of four three-pointers to give Hemel what proved to be their only lead of the evening. But Leopards quickly took control as six points from Hernandez and four from Cummings saw them open a 12-4 lead, and the Hernendez continued to do most of the damage for the visitors in the first period as he hit 16 points to send his side into the first break with an 11 point lead.
Only Cummings troubled the scorers for Leopards in the first three minutes of the second period as Storm cut the lead to eight, but Ish Fontaine drained a trey , and with Josey also scoring from downtown, the Big Cats led 40-27 with six minutes gon.
Hemel responded with a 10-4 run to close out the half, but Taner Adu’s two baskets in that tear ensured the Big Cats went into the locker room with a 44-37 lead..
Cummings opened the second half on fire, draining back-to-back threes, and Josey also hit one from the Land of Plenty to put the Big Cats 56-42 ahead with four minutes gone. .A 7-0 run in which Cummings scored five point saw the lead grow to 65-46 heading into the final two minutes of the third period, but Hemel again finished strongly as they scored the final five points to cut Leopards’ advantage to 69-55 at the final break.
That run continued as Rodney Bryn-Hussey and Sayers made it a ten point game before Cummings ended the drought with a drive to the basket.
Leopards were ahead by ten with six minutes remaining when Omope hit a hot-streak from downtown with three straight threes, split by a Cummings jump shot and a Josey trey, but Sayers got in on the act to make it three point game and force a timeout from coach Robert Youngblood.
Although Adu missed a pair at the foul line, the move worked as a 14-4 run wrapped up the win for the Big Cats. Cummings proved unstoppable down the straight as hit nine straight points to cap his best night in a Leopards’ vest and sent the Big Cats into the Trophy final for the first time.
Leopards: S Cummings (38), G Hernandez (25), C Josey (11), T Adu (9), R Youngblood (4), I Fontaine (3), D Dunscome (2), T Martin, L Brown, R Graham, J Davis (DNP), D Camile (DNP)
2008 – Laws seals an amazing win
Leopards 91 (29,43,66) Bristol Academy Flyers 90 (15,40,69)
An amazing end to Saturday’s EBL Division One game at Wodson Park saw Gareth Laws sink two free throws with under a second remaining to seal a win for Leopards.
After the Big Cats appeared to have thrown the game away, Laws was fouled with just 0.89 of a second left, and calmly sunk both foul shots to send the crowd home happy. Leopards looked to have the game sewn up with two minutes remaining as they led 89-82, but three-pointers from Greg Streete and Arek Makowski both scored three pointers to cut the lead to one. Bristol were forced to foul to stop the clock, but Carl Lathem-Henry missed both free-throws with 11 seconds left, and Ryan Williams scored a lay-up to give his team the lead with 3.2 seconds remaining.
Coach Jon Burnell called a Leopards time-out, and after Williams had deflected the first in-bound out, the ball reached Laws who drove to the basket and was fouled by Makowski. He sunk both free-throws to give the Big Cats their seventh win in ten games.
Such a finish had looked unlikely as Leopards started strongly, with Sam Salter hitting 14 of his team-high 20 points in the opening quarter.
Salter’s first two points came from the foul line as Bristol coach Andreas Kapoulas managed to collect a technical after just 67 seconds., and treys from Laws and Salter helped the home side take a 22-10 lead after seven minutes.
A pair of Tyrone Treasure free-throws broke a 6-0 run, but seven straight Salter points sent Leopards into the fist break 29-15 ahead.
The second period proved to be the complete opposite of the first, and Flyers fought back and went on an 18-4 tear, with only a Lukas Volskis three and a single Laws free-throw breaking the run.
Leigh Greenan broke the run with a put-back but a trey from Williams and an Adam Simons basket gave Bristol their first lead of the night. With the momentum appearing to have completely swung in Flyers’ favour, three Greenan points put Leopards back in the lead before Laws completed the first half scoring to send the home side into the locker room 43-40 ahead.
The third period saw Leopards remain in front, without ever managing to pull away. Errol Seaman scored his first points for the Big Cats on his return to the club to put them six points ahead going into the final two minutes of the quarter before five straight Williams points saw his side pull within one of the hosts and a Lee Treasure trey gave Bristol a 64-62 lead.
Further scores from Seaman and Matt Eames put Leopards ahead by two before the latter was harshly called for an intentional foul, and with Williams sinking both free-throws and Lee Treasure sinking another three, the visitors went into the final break with a 69-66 lead.
A Williams three-pointer helped Bristol take a five point lead early in the fourth period, five Fola Adeleke points and baskets from Volskis and Greenan saw Leopards regain the advantage.
A pair of Latham-Henry points leveled things up again with two and half minutes remaining. Four Adeleke points helped launch Leopards on the run which appeared to wrapped the game up before Bristol’s late surge set the grandstand finish which saw Laws emerge as the hero.
Leopards: S Salter 20, G Laws 15, F Adeleke 15, C Latham-Henry 13, L Greenan 9, E Seaman 8, M Eames 6, L Volskis 5, M Collins, R Lloyd, B Warden (DNP), A Scotland-Williamson (DNP)
2002 – BBL Championship
Chester Jets 98 DG Kool Kat Leopards 107
Leopards (21,40,63) Mo Robinson 21pts Jet (255,79)
2002 – Huge win in Chester
Chester Jets 98 (25,53,79)
Calvin Davis 33, John Thomas 21, James Hamilton 19
DG London Leopards Kool Kats 107 (21,40,63)
Rod Brown 29, Jason Kimbrough 26, Maurice Robinson 15
BBL Championship @ Northgate Arena
DG London Leopards Kool Kats picked up a huge victory on the road 107-98 over the Northern Conference leaders Chester Jets.
Chester dominated the first half and were helped with a 7-0 tear in the first and a 10-0 run in the second period to take the score out to 47-33, and ultimately lead 53-40 at the half. Jets lead right through until the final period where the Leopards went on a 18-2 run to tie the score at 81-81, and then took the lead in the dying minutes of the game to run out eventual winners. Calvin Davis led all scorers with an impressive 33-point haul, while Rod Brown bagged 29 points for the Leopards.
2019 -Leopards provide the magic in Manchester
A strong second half saw Leopards record a quick-fire double against Manchester Magic as they left the north west with an 87-63 victory, on Saturday evening. 
The win was a lot more comfortable than the previous week’s success against Magic at the Brentwood Centre, but Leopards’ victory sees the home side facing a first relegation in club history.
A 13-2 run in the final five minutes ended any chance of a comeback from the young Magic side, and it was captain Sam Newman who led the way with 19 points, and impressive 13 assists, five rebounds and four steals. Asante Sandiford also finished with 19 points, adding six rebounds and five assists, while Lee Hodges finished with a 14 point, 12 rebound double-double. Darrell Bethune marked his first game back in a Leopards’ kit with 12 points and a couple of steals in 20 minutes off the bench. Jonathon Barnes (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Richard Bell (11 points, ten boards) both had double-doubles for the home side.
Hodges opened the scoring for the Big Cats as the home side took an early 5-2 lead but there was little to choose between the two sides, and it took dunks from Sandiford and Newman to send the visitors into the first break with a 16-13 lead.
Tom Child drained from the Land of Plenty to open the second period and with Bethune hitting a pair at the line the visitors took a 21-13 lead. A three point play from Hodges kept the visitors ahead before Chuck Duru drained a three, and with Sandiford putting his side up by six with a driving lay-up, the visitors played some tough defence in the final seconds to go into the locker room 34-28 ahead.
Sandiford and Newman both scored from downtown as Leopards opened the second half strongly and Findlay Wood also hit a triple to put the visitors up by ten heading into the final three minutes of the third period.
Newman put his side up by 12 going into last minute of the quarter before Sandiford’s hook shot made it 63-51 at the final break. Child hit another three to keep the lead in double digits early in the fourth period but it was a Hodges dunk that sparked the run that took the game beyond Magic, with Newman and Sandiford both scoring key baskets and Rory Winter hitting a trey to wrap up their side’s ninth league win of the campaign.
2014 – Leopards keep up title challenge
Howard Crawford led the way with a 25 point, ten rebound double-double, while Shaun Durant marked his home debut with 14 points and 15 rebounds in just 23 minutes of action. Courtney Van Beest came off the bench to finish 12 points and eight boards with Ish Fontaine also in double figures with ten points. The Big Cats led for all but the first 90 seconds of the game, with the lead peaking at 23 points following a Durant free-throw midway through the second period.
Delaney Powell and Josey exchanged three pointers to open the game, but seven straight Durant points gave Leopards a lead they would never lose, and a 10-0 run capped by a pair of Josey free-throws helped them go into the first break with a 30-16 lead.
Fontaine opened the second period with five straight points, and with Crawford hitting back-to-back shots and a pair of free-throws, the Big Cats steadily built their lead to 20..
Crawford took his second quarter tally to ten before Van Beest drained a jump shot with 16 seconds on the clock to send Leopards into the locker room with a 56-35 lead.
With a massive lead Leopards struggled to maintain the intensity after the break as Sherrad Prezzie-Blue and Craig Pringle both drained threes as Warriors opened with seven unanswered points and although Crawford replied at the other end, the run was extended to 13-2 to make it a ten point game. A timeout from coach Robert Youngblood worked for the home side, with Fontaine hitting his second trey of the game in an 8-2 to close out the period with a 66-50 lead.
Durant’s put-back made it an 18 point game midway through the final period but Warriors had one more run in them as four straight point from JP Marcellus made it 79-72 but that was as close as they came and Kris Clark put aside a poor shooting night to drain a pair at the foul line to wrap up the game.
Leopards comfortably out-rebounded the visitors 51-29, although the 19 turnovers will concern Youngblood, and did a good job restricting star guard Prezzie-Blue to 16 points on six-from-11 shooting . Pringle also finished on 16 points for the visitors with Marcellus marking his debut with 15 points.
2000 – Burks comes back to haunt Leopards
Dairylea Dunkers Championship
Milton Keynes Lions 90 (12,33,60) Windless 27, Cox 23, Burks 22
adidas London Leopards 87 (21,43,65) Johnson 25, Kimbrough 24, Bonsu 15
Bletchley Leisure Centre
Milton Keynes Lions climbed to third spot in the Dairylea Dunkers Southern Conference with a nailbiting 90-87 victory over the adidas London Leopards on Wednesday night.
The Lions, who had stand in coach Vince Macauley-Razaq thrown out in the second quarter for leaving his box, fought back strongly after trailing 62-45 midway through the third period.
Former Leopard Eric Burks returned to haunt his former club nailing a three pointers with just 3s remaining to give his side the decisive lead, the Leopards however will be left rueing 9 missed free throws in the final quarter. Lions, who could go second with victory on Saturday were led by Tony Windless’ game high 27 points.
Leopards' history 