Dave Ryan reports…
Having collected their first league win of the season, Levett Leopards will be looking to move up the Division One table with a pair of home games this weekend.
Newly promoted Solent Kestrels are the visitors to Harlow Leisurezone on Saturday (7.30pm) while Bradford Dragons are the visitors to the Brentwood Centre the following afternoon (4pm) and both sides should provide tough tests for Steve Ogunjimi’s side.
After losing their two National Trophy games, Kestrels have strengthened their side and are currently joint sixth in the table with a 3-3 record having won their last two games. They have also reached the National Cup semi-final.
Meanwhile Bradford are fifth in the table with five wins from eight games and will be looking to bounce back after a National Cup exit at the hands of league leaders Team Northumbria.
While Leopards have never met Solent – although their predecessors Solent Stars were regular opponents when the Big Cats reformed in 2004 – Dragons have been regular opponents over the last few years and last season’s games saw both sides make the long trip home with a victory under their belts.
Leopards are offering a cheap ticket deal for fans who want to watch them in action at both their home venues this weekend as well as their popular pre-game training session for children. Details are on www.leopardsbasketball.co.uk
The Big Cats chalked up their first league win of the campaign with an emphatic 90-57 victory at Westminster Warriors, on Saturday evening.
The Big Cats led from tip-to-buzzer as they snapped a five game losing streak in Division One to move up to 11th place.
Darrell Bethune marked his debut with 19 points, five assists and four rebounds (and a technical foul) but it was a good all-round team effort with six players scoring in double figures and all nine available players logging at least 13 minutes of action.
Jamie Hayes finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and another bang on the head, with Dougie Bennett and Shaq Lewis adding 14 points apiece.Roberts chipped in with ten points, six rebounds and four assists, while Mike Martin was a rebound short of a double-double with ten points and four assists.
A Leopards side who were without Justin Hitchman (foot injury) and Dominic Scott-Robinson (ill) dominated on the board, out-rebounding the hosts 44-33 and built on good starts to both halves as they won at Capital City Academy for the second time this season.
Bethune hit a trey to open the scoring and a pair of jump-shots from Hayes saw Leopards rush into an 8-0 lead and a score on the break from debutant Perry Lawson saw the Big Cats go into the first break 18-12 ahead.
Lewis converted a lay-up off Martin’s third assist of the game to open the second period, and both Martin and Bethune took the lead out to nine points as the visitors remained in control.
Bethune made it a 12-point game with 44 seconds remaining in the first half before Johnson cut the lead to 37-27 going into the locker room.
While that was a comfortable first half lead, it was the start to the third period which effectively wrapped up the win.
A massive alley-oop by Martin off Hayes’ assist opened the half before Bennett sunk a trey before a pair of Martin scores and another Bennett basket made it 48-29.
Bethune and Oyelese wrapped up the 15-2 run to make it a 23-point game before Bethune drained from the Land of Plenty to send his side into the final break with a 62-37 lead having outscored hosts 25-10 in the period.
Bethune opened the final quarter with another triple before Bennett made it a 30 point game on the break and the lead never dipped below 26 before Lewis wrapped things up with a dunk on the break to send Leopards home happy.
