2000 – Donewald ejected in loss to Sharks
Dairylea Dunkers Championship
adidas London Leopards 82 (15,28,55) Brantley 22, Mensah-Bonsu 18, Kimbrough 15
Westfield Sharks Sheffield 95 (19,59,77) Myers 23, Johnson 19, Reinking 17
Brentwood International Centre
Westfield Sharks Sheffield kept up the pressure on Manchester Giants at the summit of the Northern Conference with a 95-82 win away to adidas London Leopards in an eventful encounter at Brentwood.
Brandon Brantley put on a superb display with 22 points and 20 rebounds, but not even his double double could prevent a bad day for the Leopards, who lost Head Coach Bob Donewald – two technicals leading to his ejection from the game in the fourth quarter inspiring him to empty a bag of basketballs onto the court. Sharks’ Coach, Chris Finch, also picked up a technical in the final quarter, but his side were already comfortably in the lead at that stage.
Sharks led by 22 points at the start of the fourth and although Leopards opened with a 10-2 burst to narrow the gap, it was too big a margin to recover. Last season’s Player of the Year, Terrell Myers led all scorers with 23 points.
2016 – Leopards beaten in overtime
Leopards saw their hopes of a top four finish take a hit at Hemel Storm on Saturday as they lost an overtime thriller 113-104. It was a tale of missed of missed free-throws again for the Big Cats and Ladi Brown could have sealed the win with five seconds remaining in regulation time when he missed a pair at the foul line, and although the visitors still had a chance to score from open play, Storm held to take the game to an extra period with the scores tied at 96.
The overtime period proved to be a disaster for Steve Ogunjimi’s side as Storm hit the first six points, and although Brian Nguru broke the run, Hemel hit another seven straight points to wrap up the win and their first ever league double against the Big Cats.
Leopards had given up a 18-point second period lead, and to complete a miserable night for the visiting side they saw captain Albert Margai ejected in the fourth period for a second unsportsmanlike foul.
It was only the second time in the 12-year history of the new Leopards that they had hit a century in a losing effort and the first time they had reached treble figures since the final day of the 2011/12 season.
Will Ashby led the visitors with 23 points, with England junior international Evan Walshe having an impressive 20, while Brown and Tosin Oyelese adding 13 apiece. But the Big Cats had no answer to Hemel’s back-court pair of Nick Rhodes and Bola Adeluola who both finished with 33 points,
A tight first period saw Nguru, making his first start for Leopards hit a pair of free-throws to put them 8-7 ahead after four minutes before Walshe caught fire, hitting three treys in a 12-point first period haul before Oyelese got free in the paint for a lay-up to give his side a 27-20 lead at the first break.
Brown and Ashby both converted from downtown as a 10-2 start to the second period saw the Big Cats# lead grow to 37-22. Walid Mumuni broke the run but was answered by an Ashby lay-up and a Margai trey as the lead peaked at 42-24..
Scores from Walshe and Connor Stuart kept Leopards ahead, but the home side finished the half strongly before a pair of Courtney Van Beest free-throws sent the Big Cats into the locker room 56-49 ahead.
The third period saw an 8-0 foul count go against the Leopards as Hemel opened with a 6-0 run before four points apiece froMargai and Ashby put Leopard 66-60 ahead. Margai picked his first intentional foul on a harsh call, but the ball didn’t lie as Damien Edwards missed four straight foul shots, but at the home side continued to camp out at the charity stripe they went on an 11-0 run to grab the lead, and despite threes Brown and Jamie Hayes it was Hemel who went into the fourth period with a 76-72 lead.
Ashby opened the fourth quarter scoring, but his side looked dead and buried as Adeluola made it a seven point game heading into the final four minutes.
But Walshe scored four points and Oyelese three before Brown tied the game before Walshe hit a trey to put Leopards 92-89 up with 80 seconds remaining.
Margai left the game after fouling Adeluola on the break, and the Hemel guard hit both free-throws only to see his side turn the ball over on the inbounds and Oyelese score on the break.
One-from-two foul shooting for Oyelese and Van Beest saw Leopards lead 96-94 with 23 seconds on the clock but Mumuni tied the game with a long two pointer with eight clicks remaining.
Clearly unable to read a scoreboard, Adeluola needlessly committed an intentional foul on Brown with three seconds having gone off the clock, but Leopards failed to take advantage and overtime proved to be a bridge too far as Storm closed out the win.
2002 – Mauled by Bears again
DG London Leopards Kool Kats 73(25,43,53)
Jason Kimbrough 17, Rod Brown 17, Rico Alderson 15
Brighton Bears 94 (20,42,71)
Albert White 27, Sterling Davis 18, Mike Brown 15
BBL Championship @ Brentwood Centre
Brighton Bears maintained 2nd spot in the Southern Conference with a 94-73 road victory over the DG London Leopards Kool Kats on Wednesday night
The Leopards started the game the brighter opening up a 12-2 lead but the Bears had it back to just a single point at the half time interval at 43-42.
Bears broke the game open in the 3rd quarter scoring the opening 6 points and then finishing the quarter with a 17-2 burst to make the game safe at 71-53.
Bears’ Albert White led all scorers with 27 points.
2011 – Leopards conquer Crusaders
Leopards 79 (15,42,58) Coventry Crusaders 69 (27,36,51)
LEOPARDS kept up their push for the EBL Division One title with a comfortable victory against Coventry Crusaders, on Sunday.
After a poor start saw them trailing by 12 at the first break, Leopards recovered to take control with a strong second period and never looked back. Ousman Krubally again led the Big Cats with 22 points, 13 rebounds and three steals, while Josh Sharlow added 16 points, four assists and three steals. Leigh Greenan finished with 13 points and nine boards, with Josh Johnson dishing out eight assists.
The Big Cats did a better job containing Crusaders’ American big man Casey Crawford, limiting him to 21 points – off nine from 24 shooting – and eight rebounds. Damilola Fakunle had an impressive 14 point, ten rebound double-double while Pierre Henry-Fontaine only played in the second half after arriving late but finished with 11 points.
Jack McDonald opened the scoring for Crusaders, but Greenan proved a handful for Crusaders in the first three minutes as he scored all of Leopards’ points to put them 7-4 up. That was as good as it got in the first period for the home side as five Crawford points launched a 16-2 run for the visitors and, although Krubally broke the run, the visitors went into the first break 27-15 ahead.
Whatever Leopards coach Mark Clark said at the break clearly worked as Krubally, Sharlow and Marlan Henry all sunk treys in a 9-0 to open the second period, and make it a three point game with two second quarter periods gone.
A Krubally and-one put Leopards into a 29-28 lead with 6:16 on the clock, and Borja Pinto-Henningsen gave them a lead they would never lose with a three point play 2:11 from half-time. Keelan Cairns made it a five point game before Greenan wrapped up the scoring off a Johnson assist to send the Big Cats into the locker room 42-36 ahead.
Sharlow opened the second half scoring from the Land of Plenty and Simeon Esprit increased the lead to ten with a trey three minutes into the third period. A 6-0 run from Coventry capped by a Fakumle free-throw made it a four point game with two third quarter minutes remaining but scores from Henry and Greenan sent the hosts into final period with a 58-51 lead.
Krubally drained a trey from the top of the key to take the home side’s lead back to ten a minute into the fourth period, and Henry made it a 15 point game with 7:58 remaining. A Crawford trey took the margin back down to single figures heading into the final 90 seconds, but Sharlow answered with a jump shot, and Krubally and Dominic Norton wrapped up the win from the foul line.
Leopards: O Krubally (22), J Sharlow (16), L Greenan (13), M Henry (8), S Esprit (6), B Pintor-Henningsen (5), K Cairns (4), D Norton (3), Z Wells (2), J Johnson, S Dunscombe (DNP)
2010 – Leopards go down in Yorkshire
Leeds Carnegie 93 (29,52,75) Leopards 72 (17,36,52)
AN undermanned Leopards team found high-flying Leeds too strong as they suffered their eighth league loss of the season on Saturday. With Ignazio De Ferrari, Marlan Henry and Francesco Rinaldi all unavailable and Sam Richardson still out with a broken thumb, coach Jon Burnell was again forced to name himself as eighth man, and despite a reasonable start the visitors never looked like avoiding defeat.
Carl Latham-Henry was again Leopards’ leading scorer with 24 points, with Leigh Greenan finishing with 21 and Laurent Irish 15. American pair Mike Medved (24) and Adrian Fenyn (22) lead Leeds as they went back joint top of the table (albeit for less than 24 hours) while Herczeg added 13.
Greenan opened the scoring, and five points from Latham-Henry kept Leopards ahead, 7-6 after three minutes of action. However, that was as good as it got for them as a Fenyn put-back started an 8-0 Leeds run, and they never trailed again.
Latham-Henry broke the tear with a pair of free-throws, but although Chris Michaelides became the second of six Leopards to hit a three-pointer, it was Leeds who went into the first break with a 29-17 lead.
Latham-Henry continued to be the visitors go-to guy as he hit nine of their 19 second period points, but the visitors had no answer to Leeds’ good ball movement and with their two Americans dominating they went into the locker-room with a 52-26 lead.
Leeds captain Dave Siddall opened the second half scoring, and Medved added to their lead, and although Latham-Henry and Irish both scored from downtown, the game was effectively over by the end of the third period with the home side leading 75-52.
Medved opened the fourth period scoring, but five straight Greenan points – including a rare trey – launched a better final stanza for the visitors. Jonny Wright and Lukas Volskis both drained from downtown, but Leopards were only able to chip four points off the deficit in the final nine minutes of the game as Leeds collected their 11th win of the campaign.
Leopards: C Latham-Henry 24, L Greenan 21, L Irish 15, L Volskis 3, J Wright 3, C Michaelides 3, R Baker 2.
1999
Leicester Riders 74 Greater London Leopards 88
BBL Championship @ Grandby Halls
A win at the mythical Leicester Riders should never be sniffed at!
Leopards' history 