Solent Stars 72 (11,29,46)
Essex & Herts Leopards 94 (26,47,68)

Game stats

Steve Ogunjimi led the way with 23 points as Leopards started 2006 in style with a comfortable victory at Solent, on Saturday. The Big Cats were without coach Jon Burnell and American point guard Demetrice Williams, but a dominant first period set them up for their third straight away victory.

Burnell missed the game due to suspension after his appeal against his ejection against Manchester in November was rejected, while Williams missed the game due to an ankle injury picked up in practice. Despite that, the visitors never looked in trouble against a side who were missing leading scorer David Butterworth and had already been knocked out the National Cup by Leopards.

The comfortable win was achieved despite some abysmal shooting from the foul line as the Big Cats scored just 11 of their 31 free-throws. Ogunjimi replaced Williams at the point, with club captain Matt Eames making his first start of the season at the small forward spot.

Stars opened the scoring through Clayton Milner, but that proved to be their only lead of the game as five points from Ogunjimi and four from Troy Selvey saw the Big Cats rush into a 9-2. Selvey and Ogunjimi continued to dominate the visitors scoring, with the latter draining another two treys, and Selvey took his personal tally to eight as the hosts struggled to cope with his inside game, as three late points from Errol Seaman sent the Big Cats into the first break with a commanding 15-point lead.

Solent opened the second period strongly, with only a Roger Lloyd put-back adding to Leopards’ total as they were outscored 9-2 in the opening two minutes. A pair of Selvey baskets plus four points from Ogunjimi saw Leopards recover with an 8-2 run of their own, and the opening minutes of the second period proved to be the only serious run the home side put together during the game.

A fifth trey from Ogunjimi, and Sam Salter and Matt Eames getting on the scoresheet for the first time Leopards took the lead out to 20, and although Marc Steutal scored the first points of the period for the Hampshire side, Leopards went into the locker room with an 18-point lead.
Three-pointers from Salter and Ogunjimi extended the margin to 25 midway through the third period, and Brian Moore was able to get in on that act from the Land of Plenty as acting coach Adrian Jones was able to rotate his squad.

Lloyd doubled his personal tally, and although Imran Shafiq converted an “and-one” a pair of Moore free-throws sent Leopards into the final break with a 22-point lead.

Jones was able to rest most of his starting five for the fourth period, with Seaman, Ojunjimi and Eames all sitting out the remaining ten minutes, and Selvey seeing only a minute of court time. Dave Jones opened his account with a pair of free-throws and a three, and the Welsh international went on to finish the game with 13 points.

An NBA-style move from Lloyd saw him block a shot before running coast-to-coast and dunking on Chris Sheldrick, who fouled him in the process. Unfortunately, Lloyd’s free-throw shooting had not improved over Christmas as he missed the shot from the charity stripe.

James Warwick also missed an “and-one” on his way to a six-point fourth period haul, as became the ninth Leopard on the scoresheet, and coach Jones was able to give Ed Gregory five minutes court time as Leopards completed their fifth league victory of the season.

Leopards: S Ogunjimi 23, E Seaman 21, D Jones 13, E Seaman 10, S Salter 7, R Lloyd 6, B Moore 6, J Warwick 6, M Eames 2, E Gregory.