Essex & Herts Leopards 101 (17, 42, 67)
Solent Stars 75 (27, 34, 53)

Game Photos from www.tgsphotos.co.uk

Game Stats courtesy of Statsman - www.statsman.co.uk

Leopards powered their way into the National Cup semi-final with a 101-75 victory at Goresbrook, on Sunday. The Big Cats overcame a sluggish start to the game to reach the last four of basketball’s equivalent of the FA Cup for the first time in their short history.

For the second night in succession it was Steve Ogunjimi who led the way for Jon Burnell’s team, finishing with a game-high 25 points . He was joined in double figures by three other players, Skye Buck (20), Troy Selvey (19) and Errol Seaman (13), with the former having his most productive night in a Leopards’ vest.

The victory set a new club record for the Big Cats in competitive games, and also saw them reach treble figure for the first time in their 14 month existence. The home side started poorly, and after seven minutes trailed 17-8, with all of the Solent starting five having scored. Back-to-back scores from Ogunjimi helped reduce the deficit, but a late score from Mark Steutal saw the visitors go into the first break with a ten point lead.

That was as good as it got for the south coast team, as a pair of three-pointers from Buck launched a 10-0 run for Leopards as they tied the score at 27-27. Solent finally broke their second period duck after four and a half minutes, but a Selvey put-back three minutes before half-time, and two late scores from the American centre took his tally to ten for the quarter, and gave Leopards an eight point half-time lead.

An Ogunjimi three launched the second half for the home side, and three straight baskets from Selvey took the lead into double figures midway through the third period, and a trey from Sam Salter gave Leopards a 16-point lead at the final break.

Dave Jones scored eight points early in the fourth period to maintain the comfortable advantage, and another score from Ogunjimi took the lead out to 23 with three minutes remaining to send Leopards into the semi-final.

Leopards: S Ogunjimi 25, S Buck 20, T Selvey 19, E Seaman 13, D Jones 8, S Salter 8, L Irish 4, M Eames 2, E Gregory 2