Essex & Herts Leopards 58 (9,27,42)
Nottingham Knights 62 (14,29,49)

Leopards statistics.xls

Leopards lack of fire power was cruelly exposed as they crashed out of the National Cup against Division Two leaders Nottingham Knights. With only one import player allowed in the competition, coach Jon Burnell was forced to leave out Scoop Wicker, and as a result the Big Cats struggled to score throughout the game.

Wicker’s fellow American Hayden Herrin (pictured) top scored for the home side with 28, but with no other player reaching double figures, that alone was never going to be enough against a side containing several players with British League experience.

An early indication of how the game would progress was that there were just eight points scored in the opening four minutes, Herrin and Knight’s Rani Malik sharing them equally. A Malik three sparked a 6-0 run for the visitors, but despite a second trey from Herrin and two point from Allan Prescott, Knights reached the first break leading 16-9.

Herrin continued to score the bulk of Leopards’ few points, but with little help from his team-mates, Knights opened up a ten point lead midway through the half. With only 14 points in the opening 15 minutes of play, coach Burnell called a time-out, and Leopards finally sparked into life, as four points from Herrin and scores from Roger Lloyd, Mark Quashie and Prescott saw them narrow the gap to 26-24 with a 10-2 run. Lloyd picked up his third foul, with Dave Passmore converting one from two from the charity stripe, before a pair of free-throws from Herrin gave the Big Cats their first lead since the early stages, but a buzzer-beater from veteran Steve McGlothin put Knights one-up at half-time.

The start of the third period saw Leopards finally take control of the game with Prescott, Quashie, Dan Scott and Brian Moore all scoring as they took a 37-32 lead. That improve was, however, short lined as Knights went on a 13-0 run to take a 47-39 lead, and although Herrin hit his fourth trey of the night, the visitors still led 49-42 at the final break.

Things did not improve at the start of the fourth period, as that lead was extended to 13 points before a Moore three helped cut that lead to six points. Herrin continued to rain down threes, before briefly leaving the court with an ankle injury, but with two minutes remaining the hosts still trailed by five. Moore reduced the deficit to three, but despite a limping Herrin returning to the action and launching his seventh trey of the evening, Knight closed out the victory and maintained their perfect start to the season, from the free-throw line.

Leopards: Herrin (28), Scott (9), Moore (7), A Prescott (6), R Lloyd (4), M Quashie (4), B Gooch, M Eames, T Christie, A Coates (DNP), M Whalley (DNP)