Leopards forward Joe Ikhinmwin has gained a scholarship to play basketball in the United States.

The 19-year-old Great Britain junior international will start at Seminole State College in Oklahoma where he will spend a maximum of two years before hopefully progressing to an NCAA Division college.

Seminole is a junior college which students attend to gain the necessary grades to progress to a university-level college, They play in the Bi-State Conference and were the Region Two champions last year, beating powerhouse Redlands in the championship game and advanced to the National Championships. They had a 27-10 record last year and after winning three games at the National Tournament came fifth in United States Junior College Championships.

Junior colleges regularly produce players who go on to play in the NBA, with legends Dennis Rodman and Larry Johnson having come through that system along with current stars Sam Cassell, Ben Wallace, Latrell Sprewell and Nick Van Exel.

Ikhinmwin proved to be a major part of the Leopards team which finished fourth in the league, and twice led the Big Cats' scoring, draining 17 points in a club-record 102-29 victory against Wellingborough Phoenix and scoring 28 in an emphatic 103-61 win at Coventry Crusaders. He also had the third best field goal shooting percentage in the division, which considering the league contained 25 full-time American players is a considerable achievement.

As well as playing for the Big Cats, the 6' 6" forward also played for Barking Abbey academy side team which reached the National Schools Cup final last season,

Ikhinmwin is looking forward to the chance of playing in America: "I'm very excited to being going to the States. It's always been my ambition, and hopefully I will be able to progress to a Division One college.

"I would like to thank everyone at Leopards and Barking Abbey, they've really helped me get to where I am now."

Barking Abbey's assistant coach Lloyd Gardner, who was a team-mate of Ikhinmwin at Leopards, predicts a bright future for him: "Joe's got a really good work ethic, and that's why he has developed as much as he has over the last two seasons. If he can maintain that desire to learn he's got a great future ahead of him."

Ikhinmwin will be coached in the States by Dr Tom Mills, who coached Leopards player-of-the-year Duncan Ogilvie when he was at Rose State College, with the 27-year-old instrumental in getting Ikhinmwin a place at Seminole.