Manchester Magic 93 (24,42,60)
Essex & Herts Leopards 81 (18,39,61)

Foul trouble eventually caught up with Leopards as they lost a tight game at Manchester, on Saturday. The Big Cats saw four player foul out in a game spoilt by over-officious refereeing, and to add insult to injury they also saw coach Jon Burnell ejected after picking up two technical fouls. Both sides were left frustrated, and times simply perplexed, as the two whistle-happy officials called 66 fouls as well as handing out Burnell’s two technicals.

During a second period that last over 30 minutes, nine successive possessions were broken up by referee’s whistles, and it was the Leopards poor foul shooting that cost them dearly, scoring 52 percent of their shots from the charity stripe in comparison to Magic’s 72 percent. Troy Selvey led the visitors’ scoring with a season-best 26 points, as he and Errol Seaman caused Magic problems in the paint all night.

It was Selvey and Seaman who scored the majority of Leopards’ early points, as the home side steadily built a lead, and the Big Cats reached the first break trailing by six, but more ominously, the visitors already had Seaman and new point guard Demetrice Williams on two fouls.

Selvey opened the second period scoring, but a seven point burst, capped by a trey from the impressive Matt Hogarth saw Magic open a 31-21 lead three minutes into the quarter. With the game being broken up by the continuous whistling from the men in grey, much of the rest of the period was spent at the foul line, with Steve Ogunjimi and Selvey the principal shooters for the visitors. A Sam Salter trey cut the Magic lead to three at half-time, and Leopards started the second half strongly as scores from Laurent Irish and Demetrice Williams saw them regain the lead 43-42.

Burnell’s team held on to that lead, and an Irish lay-up extended their lead to five with three minutes of the third period remaining, and a pair of Ogunjimi free-throws sent them into the final break with a one point advantage – but with four of their starting five one foul away from leaving the game. With effective defence virtually impossible, Leopards managed to hold on to that lead for the first two minutes of the quarter before ten unanswered points from the home side gave them a lead they were to never lose. Seaman departed from the game after picking up his fifth foul, and Burnell collected a second technical after disputing another bizarre decision, and with Salter, Ogunjimi and Williams also fouling out, the home side sealed things from the line.

Leopards: T Selvey 26, L Irish 14, E Seaman 11, D Williams 10, S Ogunjimi 10, S Salter 5, D Jones 3, M Eames, B Moore (DNP), E Gregory (DNP)