21 November 2008
Leopards face Rockets as Carl recovers
Reading Rockets v’s London Leopards
Loddon Valley Leisure Centre
Saturday November 22 - Tip-off 6.30pm
Reading Rockets will look to effectively wrap up a place in the National Trophy semi-finals when they host London Leopards on Saturday evening.
Holders Rockets go into the game with a perfect 4-0 record in this season’s competition, and they will be looking to protect a remarkable record in the Trophy. Dave Titmuss’ team have only lost once in their last 16 games in the competition as they’ve recorded back-to-back successes.
However, that defeat came at Leopards’ old home at Goresbrook Leisure Centre when just over two years ago, with the home side winning 83-82. Sam Salter drained a three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to give the Big Cats victory that day.
Leopards have won three of their four games in this season’s competition, but having lost by 15 in their last Trophy outing at Taunton, they need a win to get their campaign back on track.
Jon Burnell’s team look set to be without point guard Carl Latham-Henry for several weeks after the 25-year-old was carried off with ligament damage in his neck when they hosted Bristol Academy Flyers last week. The game was suspended with 24 seconds remaining with Flyers up by six, but Leopards’ general manager Dave Ryan is pleased to report that the damage to Latham-Henry’s neck wasn’t as serious as was first feared:
“I spoke to Carl yesterday, and although he’s still in a lot of pain, it appears he will make a full recovery. He gave us all a massive scare, but we’re looking forward to having him back with us soon – although it could be that he doesn’t return until the New Year.
“The amount of people we’ve had contact us asking if he’s okay has been truly remarkable. It’s nice to see just how many people care about someone from another club. “
Rockets won both games between the sides last season, producing a dominant
performance in a 77-55 home victory before closing out the game strongly
at Wodson Park, winning 93-81
This site remains the
Copyright © of Leopards 2004 Ltd.
Any unauthorised reproduction of this site,or any part of it, is an offence.