Bristol Academy Flyers 72 (18,31,50)
Leopards 81 (24,47,60)

Leopards took a big step towards a top three finish with a nine point victory at Bristol, on Saturday.

Having lost the home fixture against the Flyers by five points, the 81-72 victory in the West Country gave the Big Cats the head-to-head decider against Bristol as they look for their highest ever finish in the EBL Division One table.

Hrvoje Pervan led the scoring again for Jon Burnell’s team with 29 points and seven rebounds, while Gareth Laws and Russell Jordan each added 14 and Lee McCarthy finished with ten points. Both Jordan and McCarthy narrowly missed out on double-doubles with nine rebounds each.

Pervan and Laws did most of their scoring in the first half with 22 and 12 respectively, but although both were closely guarded in the second half, it was a three-pointer from Pervan as the shot clock expired midway through the fourth period that put the visitors in the driving seat for the rest of the game.

Croatian forward Pervan opened the scoring, and a Laws jump shot put the Big Cats 11-7 ahead at the midway stage of the first quarter.

Pervan took his tally to 13 points in the opening period as Leopards built a 22-14 lead, and although Tyronne Treasure scored three of six free-throws to narrow the gap, Leigh Greenan scored from close range as Leopards reached the first break with a 24-18 lead.

Scores from Jordan, Pervan, McCarthy and Latham-Henry kept Leopards in the lead despite a pair of Brody Bishop threes.

The key run in the came in the closing stages of the first half as Laws hit seven straight points followed by six from Pervan as Leopards scored 13 unanswered points to lead 45-29 before Flyers’ Gareth Till and McCarthy exchanged baskets as the Big Cats went into half-time with a 47-31 lead.

A pair of Jordan baskets kept Leopards comfortably ahead, and a Ronnie Baker trey extended the lead to 56-38 at the midway stage of the period.

That proved to be Leopards’ biggest lead of the game, and seven Treasure points in a 12-4 run saw Bristol cut the Big Cats’ lead to 60-50 at the final break.

Treasure also scored the first four points of the fourth period as the lead was cut to six points, but scores from Pervan and Laws steadied the visitors.

Five straight Flyers points halved Leopards’ ten point lead before Pervan drained from long range as the shot clock ran down to break the run.

Scores from Jordan, McCarthy and Baker kept Leopards ahead as they closed in on the victory before Treasure was called for a technical foul in the final minute. Pervan sunk both the free-throws and Jordan scored from the resulting possession to effectively seal the game.

All that remained for both sides was to seal the aggregate victory from the two games, and although Treasure drained a three to cut Leopards’ lead to seven, a steal set McCarthy up for a dunk to wrap things up and see the Big Cats keep up the pressure on second placed Manchester Magic.

Leopards: H Pervan 29, G Laws 14, R Jordan 14, L McCarthy 10, R Baker 7, L Greenan 4, C Latham-Henry 3, L Volskis, B Wilkinson.