Bristol Flyers 105 (26,47,71)
Leopards 96 (23,34,55)

Game Stats

A late comeback wasn’t enough to prevent Leopards’ season ending with a play-off quarter-final loss at Bristol on Saturday.

Gareth Laws hit a club record 39 points for the Big Cats, including six three-points from eight attempts, but the visitors never looked likely to reach their first post-season semi-finals.

Captain Sam Salter added 22 points, also hitting six treys, while Carl Latham-Henry added 14 and Errol Seaman chipped in with ten points and five rebounds.

After Laws had scored the first point of the game, Flyers took an early lead with a six straight points, thanks to scores from Ryan Williams and Gareth Till. However, excellent three-point shooting by Salter and Laws would put the visitors 19-15 ahead with three minutes left in the first period.

That was the last time the visitors would lead the game as a quick seven points by Williams put the Flyers 26-20 ahead before Salter halved that lead with a buzzer-beating three.

A change of defence by Bristol team caused uncertainty to the Leopards side as the Flyers went on a 15-4 run in the first six minutes of the second period. Leopards’ Carl Latham-Henry cut the Flyers lead down by nine, but another five points by Williams and a couple of free throws by Makowski and Ahmed sent Flyers into the locer room with a 47-34 lead.

The Flyers with the help of Simons and Makowski started the second half with six unanswered points to extend the lead to its biggest margin, 53-34. Leopards though did not give up and with three quick successful shots from beyond the arc by Salter, brought the deficit down to 10.

Bristol regained the initiative, and they scored the last seven points of the third period to lead 71-55 going into the final break.

Two consecutive threes by Makowski and Streete put the Flyers even further ahead and after a few exchanges of baskets and another three by Lee Treasure saw Flyers again take the lead out to 19, as they led 83-64 with six minutes remaining.

Leopards still had one more run in them, and an and-one from Errol Seaman helped them score nine unanswered points to cut the deficit to 85-75. Simons halted the run with a trey, but three pointers from Matt Collins and Laws, together with a pair of Latham-Henry free-throws saw Bristol’s lead cut to 88-83 with three minutes remaining.

Leopards kept within eight until the final minute, but consecutive Williams points ended their resistance and sent the Big Cats out of the competition.

Leopards: G Laws 39, S Salter 22, C Latham-Henry 14, E Seaman 10, M Collins 6, M Eames 4, F Adeleke 1, L Volskis, R Lloyd, B Warden.

The full game can be viewed on www.sportuk.tv