The first game in their National Trophy defence ended in disappointment for the Leopards as a poor second half performance saw them lose 76-68 against Bradford Dragons at Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre.

The Big Cats dominated the first half but let the visitors back into the game leading up to half-time and never regained the initiative as Dragons consigned them to defeat in the first of six group games in the competition they won last season.

Robert Youngblood’s team were without American big man Howard Crawford after his international clearance failed to arrive from Estonia and forwards Siman Stewart (injury) and Iaon Nickson (unavailable) also missed the game forcing the Leopards’ coach to kit up and play 11 and half minutes. Lawrence Brown and Carl Josey led the Leopards’ scoring with 14 points apiece, with the big man completing a double-double with 13 rebounds and Josey adding eight, with Clark finishing on 12 points and Clark adding eight points and five assists.

American point guard Kris Clark scored Leopards’ first competitive points of the season as the Big Cats started strongly, and Brown added a pair of baskets before Clark capped a 10-2 run. Brown proved to be a handful at both ends of the court for the visitors in early stag e, but it was four straight points from Courtney Van Beest that sent the Big Cats into the first break with a 22-17 lead.

Dragons closed to within a point in the early stages of the second period as Jermaine Laing hit back-to-back baskets, but a trey from captain Josey saw the lead back out to eight points with four minutes remaining. Ish Fontaine and Josey both hit treys to keep Leopards and a free-throw from Youngblood sent  his side into the locker room with a 40-33 lead.

That lead was wiped out with a 7-0 Dragons run to open the second half as Dan Foley hit a three on the way to a game-high 18 points before Brown broke the drought with a dunk. But the seven footer forced to down with foul trouble the visitors moved ahead for the first time with a 12-3 run, and it took eight straight points from Sam Iwubre free-throw to give the home side a 57-56 lead at the final break.

That proved to be the last time that Leopards would lead the game as Corono Navarro Alejandro hit a trey to give Bradford the lead at the start of the fourth period.  Vance Silcott doubled that lead  and although Iwubre and Josey kept Leopards in touch, Navarro Alejandro blasted another triple to extend the visitors’ lead.

Five straight points from Josey saw the deficit cut to 69-66 with 2:33 on the clock but Leopards offence broke down and some poor decisions down the stretch saw the game slip away in the final stages to give the visitors victory.

Leopards: C Josey (14), L Brown (14), S Iwubre (12), K Clark (8), C Van Beest (7), I Fontaine (6), R Youngblood (3), T Martin (2), M Isober (2), R Baker.

As his side prepare to face a Barking Abbey side packed with young British talent at Colchester, Leopards coach Thomas Baker is happy with how things went during a long weekend on the road. Baker’s side lost 114-105 at Thames Valley Cavaliers in the National Trophy group stage on Saturday before bouncing back to progress in the National Cup with a 111-99 win at Team Derby  Spartans the following day.
“Overall from the weekend I am pleased we were able to put some things into action that we have worked on in practice” he said. “We were down a few players for numerous reasons and it changed how we were going to rotate throughout both games which also changed the things we were able to implement too.
“Our aggression and ability to share the ball allowed us to create multiple situations to score and this is something we are going to have to repeat if we are to be successful on the offensive end fifa 19 to.
“Ultimately we struggled rebounding and defensively we have to be better on the ball if we are going to be successful this year.”

The guys gave everything they had against Thames Valley and to walk away disappointed we didn’t win that game just shows how hungry the guys are to get the result they deserve. It was a positive performance and when you go and score 40 points in one quarter and over 100 points in a game you should really be walking out of their with a win .

“We are aware of what we need to do to improve and this week in practice is going to be vital that we fine tune a few areas ready for Barking this weekend. It’s rare you get a chance to put right the wrongs from the day before and I had hoped that Sundays game against Team Derby would have been a chance to rotate a bit better and focus on execution tactically, however, we made hard work of it and the issues defensively that were there against TVC were also there against Team Derby. Overall we got the win that allows us to progress to the next round against Westminster.

“The general feeling around the group is positive and we are still learning how each other plays and we still have a few players to come in who will make us better. The season is going to be an interesting one and I am looking forward to continuing to improve with the guys.

Venue: Uxbridge College