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21 October 2008
Leopards look for nine in a row at the Brentwood Centre

Leopards will look to extend their winning streak to nine games when they tip-off their England Basketball League Division One season with a home against Taunton Tigers on Sunday.

The action at the Brentwood Centre starts at 4pm, and if the game is as thrilling as last time the Tigers visited, the fans are in for a treat.

Two Lukas Volskis free-throws with just 0.7 seconds remaining on the clock to seal a 91-89 victory in the teams’ opening National Trophy game.

Tigers’ Joe Saunders looked to have sent the game into overtime with a lay-up less than two seconds from the horn, but the young guard inexplicably fouled Volskis.

The 19-year-old point guard stepped up and coolly drained both shots from the charity stripe in the final second to give the Big Cats victory in their first competitive game at the Brentwood Centre for 30 months.
Such a finish had looked unlikely as the Big Cats had led the game 59-43 midway through the third period, but Tigers refused to give in and a strong finish to the third period saw them go into the final break only trailing by four.

The Big Cats go into the game on the back of a successful weekend where they remained joint top of their National Trophy group and progressed in the National Cup.

A season high 32 points from Gareth Laws helped Leopards overcome a stubborn 93-79 Cardiff Celts side to maintain the Big Cats unbeaten start to the season, on Saturday.

Croatian forward Hrvoje Pervan continued his excellent start to life in a Leopards’ vest by scoring 29 points as he and Laws combined for 65 percent of the visitors’ points.

Leigh Greenan added 12 points, while point guard Carl Latham-Henry marked his return from injury by coming off the bench to finish with ten.

Leopards had trailed by three going into both the second and third periods, but outscored the home side 28-20 in the third before closing game out with a 25-16 final quarter.

Gareth Laws led the scoring for the second night in succession as Leopards made hard work of progressing to the National Cup third round with a 108-85 victory against Oxford Brookes University..

Laws took his weekend tally to 65 points with 33 as the Big Cats produced a strong second half performance to make it nine straight wins.

Hrvoje Pervan added 26 points, while Carl Latham Henry continued his comeback with 18.

The Big Cats trailed 27-22 at the first break and went into the locker room 53-47 down at half-time. However, they upped their defensive intensity and proved more clinical at the offensive end in the second as they reached the final break 75-67 ahead before outscoring the visitors 33-18 in the fourth stanza

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