RAF Mildenhall Marauders 70 (16,40,53)
Essex & Herts Leopards 65 (11,28,52)

Leopards were made to pay for a poor first half performance as they slipped to defeat in this friendly on Saturday. Without a league game, coach Jon Burnell took a weakened squad to Suffolk to face a team of American servicemen who are preparing for their annual championship.

The Big Cats were without Brandon Kephart and Roger Lloyd, and produced a disjointed display during the opening two periods, and trailed by 12 at half-time. They were not helped by some liberal interpretations of the rules by the home officials, and with no shot clock, the final minutes of the game bordered on farce at times.

The home side, who had defeated Solent Stars by three points the previous week, relied heavily on their three point shooting, draining seven shots from the Land of Plenty in the first half alone. With Steve Ogunjimi (pictured) starting in place of Kephart, who was back in the United States at a funeral, and Mark Quashie returning to the starting line-up, Leopards offence never really got going during the first 20 minutes.Troy Selvey led the visitors’ scoring with eight, while Laurent Irish and Rodney Alexander each scored six, but Leopards went into the locker room trailing 40-28.

Having been outscored in both of the opening quarters, Leopards stepped up the intensity in the third period, with seven different players getting on the scoresheet. Brian Moore led the visitors’ scoring with a pair of treys as Leopards scored eight unanswered points, and a Mark Quashie jump-shot put the Big Cats level at 50-50 with 1:34 of the third period remaining. The hosts replied with their only three of the period, but a Selvey shot on the buzzer saw Leopards reach the final break trailing by only a point.

Mildenhall opened a scrappy final period with a 6-0 run, and although Moore and Ogunjimi both hit three-pointers, the home side successfully ran the clock to wrap up the game.

Leopards: T Selvey 15, B Moore 12, L Irish 12, S Ogunjimi 10, R Alexander 8, M Quashie 5, M Eames 3.

Juniors
Both the U18 & U16 boys kept up their winning form. The U16s beat the Bears 62-57 in Brighton and the U18s were also victorious 63-58 on their trip to Thames Valley Tigers. The U16 girls lost at Wodson Park though to Southend Swifts, the final score 47-70. Full Report to follow