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23 March 2009
Leopards shot down by the Arrows

Leopards’ nine game winning streak in EBL Division One came to an end at Sheffield on Saturday as they were made to pay for a poor second period.

The Big Cats were outscored 28-17 by the Arrows in the second quarter, and coach Jon Burnell admitted it had been a disappointing performance from his team: “You won’t win basketball games giving up 53 points in the first half, and although we were much better defensively in the second half, we’d given ourselves too much to do. We turned the ball over too much and it’s concerning that for the second week in succession we came out flat.”

Hrvoje Pervan led the scoring for the visitors with 18 points, while Gareth Laws added 16 and Ronnie Baker 15. Lee McCarthy and Russell Jordan both finished with double-doubles, with the former hitting 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, while Jordan had ten in each category.

Again missing point guard Carl Latham-Henry with an ankle injury, Leopards won the tip and opened the scoring through a pair of Pervan free-throws.

The visitors were still two points up after three minutes of action before the Arrows answered with 13 straight points to take a 20-9 lead with 3:38 remaining in the period.

That run was finally broken by a rare McCarthy trey, and Laws did likewise to cut the deficit to five, and although the Big Cats trailed by seven going into the final 40 seconds Pervan drained a pair of free-throws before Volskis stole the ball to set up the Croatian to reduce the arrears to 25-22 at the first break.

The second period proved to be a disaster for the visitors as only McCarthy troubled the scorers in the first three and a half minutes as Sheffield increased their lead to 31-24.

Volskis drained a three to break the run, and a Jordon offensive rebound followed by a put-back saw the lead reduced to 33-32 with 4:33 of the half remaining.

But that was as good as it got for the visitors, with Sheffield reeling off 13 consecutive points, and although Baker broke the run with a three, Arrows went into half-time with a 53-39 lead as Danny Williams drained a buzzer-beating trey.

Arrows took that lead to 19 with the first five points of the second half before Pervan scored off an offensive rebound.

The Big Cats were unable to make any impression on the deficit until they held Sheffield scoreless for three minutes as they poured in ten straight points capped by a Laws three-pointer.

The run was ended after Burnell picked up a technical for kicking the ball, but a McCarthy free-throw in final second saw Arrows’ lead cut to 68-63 going into the final break.

Leopards started the fourth period strongly, with Laws twice scoring before Pervan hit a jumper to cut the deficit to 70-69 at the 8:44 mark.

Jordan levelled the score with a single free-throw 30 seconds later, but that proved to be the only time Leopards were on level terms during the period.

They were still within two points at the two minute mark, and a McCarthy basket kept them in the game at 80-78 with 87 seconds remaining.

The score remaining the same until the final 11 seconds when Laws was called for a harsh unsportsmanlike foul, and despite another Laws three the home side wrapped things up from foul line.

Leopards: H Pervan 18, G Laws 16, R Baker 15, L McCarthy 14, R Jordan 10, L Volskis 8, R Gilchrist, L Greenan.

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