2018 – Snow problem for Leopards

Levett Essex Leopards’ efforts to get a game played on Sunday were rewarded with an 83-65 victory against London Westside. Scheduled opponents Derbyshire Arrows told the Big Cats on Friday afternoon that they wouldn’t be travelling due to the snow – which had gone by Sunday – but Leopards moved quickly to replace the game with a match-up against struggling Westside.
The game was technically Westside’s home game after February’s attempt to play it was postponed due to a leaking roof making the court dangerous.
A bumper crowd at the Brentwood Centre saw a dominant second half performance give the Big Cats an ultimately comfortable victory. Will Ashby led the way for the “visitors” with four three-pointers in his 24 points, five rebounds and five assists. Shaq Lewis celebrated a rare start with 12 points and 14 boards in just 16 minutes while captain Dougie Bennett also finished with 12 points.
After the previous week’s loss at Ipswich, coach Thomas Baker made several changes to his starting line-up, with young guard Jose Morais and recent signing Antonio Deogratas making their first starts for the Leopards.
Baker was able to spread the court time around, with all 12 players playing at least 11 minutes and all of them except big man Caleb Tabernar getting on the scoresheet.
Ashby opened the scoring with a trey, before seven straight Lewis points and a Jerrell Layne triple saw the Big Cats take a 17-3 lead.
But the offence dried up in the final five minutes of the period, and they had only a Kevin Moyo free-throw to show for their efforts during that time as they went into the first break 18-9 ahead .
The malaise continued in the second period and despite two three-point played from Bennett their lead was trimmed to 35-27 as they heading into the locker room 35-27 ahead.
Coach Thomas Baker’s half-time team talk clearly worked, and Ashby hit his side’s first nine points of the third period to give the Big Cats a 45-29 lead after three minutes. A triple from Jamie Hayes helped him score six straight points, and the Big Cats outscored Westside 30-16 in the quarter to take a comfortable 65-43 lead into the final break.
Ashby hut another trey and the advantage peaked at 31 following four straight Jamie Rodwell points to put his side 74-43 ahead.
A fourth trey from Ashby together with a pair of Deogratas baskets kept the hosts in charge as the Big Cats wrapped up their 11th league win of the campaign.

2006 – Leopards seal play-off spot

Nottingham Knights 89 (25,47,67)
Essex & Herts Leopards 104 (20,42,74)
A strong second half performance saw Leopards gain their 14th league win of the season and seal a place in the post-season play-offs. The home side, lying bottom of the table, made the Big Cats fight all the way for the victory, but with Troy Selvey leading the way with 24 points, Leopards took control in the final two minutes of the third period and pulled away during the last quarter.
It was a good balanced scoring display from the visitors, with five players finishing in double figures, and nine of their ten man roster getting on the scoresheet. With a new-look starting lineup of Sam Salter, Matt Eames, James Warwick, Errol Seaman and Selvey, the Big Cats started sluggishly with only Eames and Selvey getting on the scoresheet as the home side rushed into a 16-4 lead at the midway stage of the first quarter.
Eames and Selvey cut the lead to 16-10, and a pair of Salter threes brought Leopards back into the game, but four points from Anthony Haase made the score 25-18 before Seaman’s late bucket cut Leopards’ deficit to five at the first break. Scores from Roger Lloyd and Brian Moore cut Knights’ lead to one, and with Eames hitting back to back shots, Leopards leveled the score at 28 before a Selvey jump shot gave Leopards their first lead four minutes into the second period.
However, with Bud Johnston hitting five points on his way to a game-high 35, and the rest of his team continuing to shoot the ball well, it took back-to-back baskets from Seaman to keep the home side’s lead down to five at half time.
Salter opened the second half with his third three of the game, and a successful “and-one” from Selvey saw Leopards briefly take the lead, but an intentional foul call on Warwick helped the home side take their lead back out to five with four minutes of the period remaining. A trey from Salter and four Eames points halted the run, and although four straight free-throws saw the home side regain the lead, a Dave Jones three gave Leopards the lead with two minutes of the third period remaining, and the Big Cats never looked back. Salter drained his fifth shot from the Land of Plenty and Seaman again scored the final shot of the period to send Leopards into the final break 74-67 ahead.
Back-to-back threes from Jones saw that lead grow to 11 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, and with Moore converting a three-point play and Jones again hitting from long range, Leopards took control of the game, and the home side never got within ten points again. Seaman took his personal tally to 19 points, before a fade-away jump shot from Ed Gregory wrapped up the scoring and saw Leopards take a firm grip on sixth place in the EBL Division One table.
Leopards: T Selvey 24, E Seaman 19, S Salter 17, M Eames 16, D Jones 14, J Warwick 5, B Moore 5, R Lloyd 2, E Gregory 2, T Christie.

2017 – Dragons slay Big Cats

Leopards’ relegation worried intensified as a strong second half wasn’t enough to prevent them going down 85-78 at Bradford Dragons on Saturday.