2013 – LEOPARDS WEATHER THE STORM
Kris Clark led the way with a season-high 20 points as Leopards powered their way into the National Cup quarter-final with a 76-68 victory against Hemel Storm .
In front of the Brentwood crowd, Clark also dished out eight assists and pulled down five rebounds to set up a last eight tie at second division Loughborough Student Riders .
Ish Fontaine marked his first start of the season with 16 points, while Howard Crawford added ten points and eight rebounds. Hemel were led by 17 points from former Leopard Zak Wells and 16 points and seven boards from Bola Adeluola .
It was a tight game throughout, with the sides level at the first break and Leopards shaving the second period by a point before pulling away in the second half .
A slow start from Leopards saw only Courtney Van Beest trouble the scorers in the first two minutes as the visitors took a 9-2 lead, but Fontaine drained the first of four treys and five straight points from the energetic guard saw the Big Cats take their first lead of the game midway through the first period .
That proved to be only a brief lead as Hemel regained the initiative, but the sides went into the first break level as Fontaine beat the clock from outside the arc to level it at 21 apiece .
Tom Martin hit a trey to open the second period scoring for Leopards, and three straight Siman Stewart baskets kept the Big Cats ahead .
Wells levelled the score at 30 heading into the final five minutes of the half, and some good defensive play at both ends of the court saw just five points scored in the remaining time as a basket from player-coach Robert Youngblood and a Clark free-throw sent Leopards into the locker room with a 33-32 lead .
Wells opened the second half scoring, but that proved to be the visitors’ final lead of the game as big dunks from Crawford and Fontaine saw the home side take control of the game and Clark’s score at the mid-stage of the third period made it 46-37 .
A trey from Hemel’s Williamze Omopre saw Leopards’ lead cut to two points with 66 seconds remaining in the period before captain Carl Josey made it 48-44 heading into the final break .
Crawford again slammed the ball home to open the fourth period, and he made it a seven point game off Clark’s assist before Omopre’s three-point play made it a one point game heading into the final five minutes.
That was as close as the visitors came, though, as Fontaine calmed the home crowd’s nerves with a three pointer, and Youngblood, Stewart and Clark wrapped the win up at the foul line.
2012 – JOSEY LEADS LEOPARDS TO VICTORY
Leopards started the 2012/13 EBL Division One season the way they finished the last campaign with a comfortable victory on Saturday evening .Carl Josey produced a superb first half performance to lead the Big Cats to a 102-83 victory at Worthing Thunder as his side ended the first night of action on top of the table .
Josey (below) was perfect in the first half as he hit five three-pointers, three shots from inside the arc, and six free-throws on his way to 27 points at the break . the former MK Lion didn’t add to his tally in the second half, missing both shots he took, as coach Robert Youngblood restricted him to eight minutes of action in preparation for Sunday’s National Cup, but he added a total of seven rebounds and three steals to his impressive stat line .
Simon Cummings and Taner Adu picked up the slack in the second half to finish with 17 points apiece, with Lawrence Brown adding ten points and six boards, with Greg Hernandez and Tom Martin each chipping in with nine points, and the former adding seven rebounds .
Hank Rivers led the hosts, who controlled the first period before being over-ran in the second, with 18 points and ten rebounds, but failed to trouble the scorers in the middle two quarters .
Dominic Baker opened the scoring for the home side with a three-pointer, and although Josey replied with two at the foul line, Thunder shot well in the first period and never trailed .
The hosts’ biggest lead was ten when Baker again drained from downtown, but Hernandez replied with a hook shot and it was the American big-man who split a pair of foul shots to reduce the arrears to 31-24 going into the first break .
That Thunder lead was quickly cut to one as Martin and Ishmael Fontaine both scored from the Land of Plenty, but back-to-back treys saw Worthing’s lead back out ten with three minutes gone .
That was as good as it got for Worthing, and a pair of three-point Hernandez plays dragged Leopards back into the game before Adu gave them their first lead of the game with two-from-three foul shooting and 3:54 on the clock .
Leopards only briefly trailed during the rest of the second period, and they closed out the half on an 11-1 run capped by Youngblood’s late basket to lead 61-49 going into the locker room.
Cummings, who’d had a quiet first half, opened the third period scoring, and the Big Cats’ lead only briefly dropped into single figures before it peaked at 21 with 4:35 on the lock when Cummings (below) converted an and-one.
Both teams struggled to trouble the scorers in the final three minutes of the period, but it was Martin who sent Leopards into the final break with a 78-63 lead when he converted with 69 seconds remaining after a steal by josey.
Martin scored the opening two baskets of the final period, and Cummings hit back-to-back baskets as Leopards opened the quarter with a nine unanswered points to extend their run to 11-0.
Fontaine ensured that Leopards hit the century mark with 2:06 remaining as their lead peaked at 26, and Youngblood was able to run his bench is the closing stages as his team wrapped up their third straight win.
Leopards: C Josey (27), S Cummings (17), T Adu (17), L Brown (10), T Martin (9), G Hernandez (9), D Dunscombe (6), I Fontaine (5), R Youngblood (2), D Camille, J Davies.
2001 – Alderson tames Lions
Milton Keynes Lions 74 (20,36,57)
Reggie Kirk 18, Andrew Alleyne 17, Nigel Lloyd 12, Victor Payne 12
DG London Leopards Kool Kats 72 (17,36,59)
Rico Alderson 20, Rod Brown 18, Maurice Robinson 14
BBL Championship @ Bletchley Leisure Centre
DG London Leopards Kool Kats picked up their second win in a week with a 77-74 success away to Milton Keynes Lions in the BBL Championship on Thursday evening.
The game was close throughout, with the teams tied at 36-36 at half-time. With Lions leading 67-66 with five minutes to go in the game, Leopards hit a 7-1 run to lead 73-68. Lions rallied and a Nigel Lloyd three pointer put Lions 74-73 to the good with less than a minute remaining.
A Rod Brown bucket and two foul shots from Carl Miller reversed the deficit and gave the Leopards the victory.
Leopards’ Rico Alderson led all scorers with 20 points; Reggie Kirk added 18 for the Lions.
2007 – London Leopards 64 Mildenhall Marauders 63
Braintree Sports Trophy @ Wodson Park
With Division One rapidly shrinking due to the withdrawal of two clubs, Leopards and West Anglia Fury got togethe with US airbase Mildenhall for a three-tournament. Not all of the games got played and the fact that Mildenhall wanted to play by NCAA rules did prove to be a difficult, but Leopards did get both of their home games played.
2019 – SHORT-HANDED LEOPARDS BATTERED BY STORM
Leopards’ fell to a fifth straight defeat as a good start wasn’t enough to prevent at 116-84 home loss against Hemel Storm on Sunday . The Big Cats’ injury problems continue to mount and gave them a mountain to climb against big spending Storm.With Jerrel Layne likely to miss the rest of the season due to an ankle injury, Obi Egbunike nursing n knee problem and James Cummings ill, the Big Cats lost point guard Prince Lartey with an ankle injury in the narrow loss at Westminster last week .
Coach Thomas Baker moved quickly to re-sign Kevin Moyo as a replacement for Lartey but he lasted only eight minutes against Hemel Storm on Sunday before also damaging his injury .In front of a big Brentwood crowd, Leopards were up 33-21 at that stage, but that proved to be as good as it got for them as Storm took control after Moyo’s departure and ran out comfortable winners .
Although Storm’s American guard Mike Williams scored the first two of his 24 points to open the scoring, the Big Cats started well with a pair of treys from captain Chuck Duru . Back-to-back baskets from Jerrelle Okoro helped them into an early 10-8 leead, and both Moyo and Hafeez Abdul scored from long range to help them into a 29-21 lead .
But the loss of Moyo made an immediate impact as Storm scored seven straight points before Okoro sent Leopards into the first break with a 35-28 lead .
Duru opened the second period scoring but a 9-2 run, including five points from former Leopard Sam Newman, saw Storm take their first lead of the game at 41-40 with five minutes gone .A trey from Marius Kartfaniukas put Leopards back in the lead, and Abdul also scored from downtown to keep the hosts ahead.
That proved to be as good as it got for the Big Cats as Storm took control with a 12-0 run – including seven Williams points – before Abdul cut the deficit to 59-51 going into the locker room .Okoro hit the first basket of the second half, but there was no way back for the hosts as Storm outscored them 33-17 to lead 92-68 and they wrapped up their fourth win in five games with a 24-16 fourth period .
Abdul again led the Big Cats with 37 points, while Okoro finished with a 26 point, 10 rebound double-double and Duru added ten points and six boards.
Bode Adeluola, who had a brief spell with Leopards, led Storm with 29 points and seven assists, with former Big Cats Will Ashby (14), Lee Hodges (13) and Newman (13) all came back to haunt their former club with Hodges also pulling down 13 boards.
Leopards' history 