Leopards and Flyers make history

While Jack Bauer continues to try save democracy and America, Bristol Academy Flyers and London Leopards will stage their own version of “24” in the England Basketball League Division One on Sunday.

The two sides will play the final 24 seconds of a game that was suspended in November following a neck injury to Leopards’ point guard Carl Latham-Henry.

That game at Leopards’ Brentwood Centre home on November 16 was held up for 30 minutes after the 25-year-old collided with Flyers guard Greg Street and suffered a neck injury. With the player unable to be moved, and the ambulance taking over 25 minutes to arrive, the referees called a halt to proceedings.

Latham-Henry was taken to Romford hospital, and was released after treatment for damaged ligaments in his neck.

With Flyers leading 92-86,Leopards agreed to play the remaining 24 seconds when the sides meet in the National Trophy on Sunday.

We were never looking to gain any advantage from the situation” said general manager Dave Ryan. “We were still in with a chance, albeit an outside one, of winning the game and even though we’ll be at a disadvantage having to play it Bristol it always seemed the fairest way of doing it.”

The two sides will be making history on Sunday as it is believed to be the first game in England to be spread over two different dates. There is 155 miles between the Brentwood Centre where the game started and 70 days would have elapsed since it originally started.

The teams will only be allowed to play players who were involved when the game started, and with the exception of Latham-Henry who will take no further part in the game, they must start with the players who were on the court when the game was suspended.

Both teams are in the penalty, with Bristol holding the ball and 20 seconds on the shot clock.

Leopards coach Jon Burnell is realistic about his team’s chances of snatching a win: “We’ll give it a go, but the odds are against it. We didn’t deserve the win last time, and if we don’t get it this time around we’ll move on and look to get the win in the Trophy. That’s our priority this weekend, if we can beat Cardiff and Bristol we’ll have an excellent chance of getting through to the semi-finals.”

In the original game, Flyers had looked to be heading for a comfortable win as they led 90-77 with 80 seconds remaining, but a pair of three pointers from Gareth Laws and one from Hrvoje Pervan took the score to 92-86 before the game came to a premature end.

Pervan and Latham-Henry had led the scoring for the Big Cats with 26 points apiece, while Gareth Laws added 14.

When the 24 seconds are over, the teams will return to the court for what looks likely to be a key National Trophy game. The teams both head into the game with 3-3 records, and are looking to gain their first semi-final spot in the competition. Bristol visit Cardiff Celts on Friday night, with Leopards hosting the Welsh side the following evening. With Celts winless and effectively eliminated from the competition, if Bristol can win both their games they will qualify for the last four. Meanwhile if Leopards record a pair of victories, they’ll be hoping that undefeated Reading Rockets win at least one of their two remaining games against Taunton Tigers – which will eliminate the Somerset side.

Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas is also looking forward to Sunday’s history-making double-header: “It’s a bit bizarre game on Sunday. We first have to play the last 24 seconds from the league game and then we have the national trophy game. The most important element is the fact that Carl is ok and healthy. In terms of the game, we are up by six points and possession of the ball however it’s still a two possession game and we have to be careful as Leopards have some of the best shooters in the league. It should be interesting as we have never been involved in a day that determines two results!

“The national trophy game is a winner takes it all game provided we beat Cardiff on Thursday. The winner goes through to the National Trophy semi-finals. its going to be a great achievement for our club to reach its first ever trophy semi-final in the short period we have been in the league. Leopards seem to have most of their team back healthy and that makes them really strong. Unfortunately we have a lot of significant injuries so a lot of our younger academy players will have to give us quality minutes.

It’s a bit like throwing them in the deep water but it will be really good to see how they react. I have loads of confidence in them and they have been playing really well in practise. Sunday should be a really good crucial test for us.”

When Leopards and Flyers met in the Trophy at Brentwood earlier in the season, things were considerably calmer than the subsequent league game. Thirty-five Hrvoje Pervan points helped Leopards record a comfortable 96-81 victory in a game that they never looked back in after going into the first break with a 29-16 lead. Brody Bishop led the Flyers with 24 points.

Surreal double in Bristol

Bristol Academy Flyers 57 London Leopards 71

After being Cardiff on Saturday evening, the following day at Bristol started in somewhat surreal fashion as the two sides played out the final 24 seconds of the game abandoned in November.

The clubs were making history as the first game in England to finish at a different venue , in a different year but the Big Cats were unable to pull of a surprise win.

Going into the final 24 seconds, Leopards were 92-86 down, and although a Gareth Laws three pointer cut the deficit by one, the game finished 95-89.

That defeat didn’t seem to affect the Big Cats confidence as they started the Trophy game against Flyers strongly as an 8-0 run put them in the driving seat as they reached the first break 27-17 ahead.

Bristol battled back, scoring the first six points of the second period, and with Leigh Greenan blowing a chance to send Leopards into the locker room with an eight point lead, and Watson netted on the buzzer to cut the visitors’ lead to 40-36 at half-time.

Flyers took their first lead since the opening minutes as they outscored Leopards 10-5 in the opening five minutes of the second half. Four straight H Pervan points broke the run, and launched a tear of eight unanswered points for the Big Cats, and a late Russell Jordan basket sent the Big Cats into the final break 57-48 ahead.

Leopards remained comfortably ahead in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, and four Carl Latham-Henry points in a 6-0 run took the lead out to 71-57 as the Big Cats sealed their first Trophy semi-final spot.

Pervan led the scoring with 27 points, while Jordan added 17 and Latham-Henry 12.