Essex Leopards 83 – 53 Newham Neptunes
Essex Leopards stolled to a comprehensive victory over Newham Neptunes on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps the Neptunes were feeling the effects of a trip up to Northumbria the day before, but the Leopards ran amock recording a final winning score of 83-53.
With representatives of Essex Spartans and Colchester United (including Eddie the Eagle) present, the last home game of 2014 was a special affair, with Southend United captain John White also watching on.
Leopards flew out of the blocks scoring 10 unanswered points, Newham finally getting on the board with over four minutes gone. Dave Ajumobi was the star of the first quarter, scoring freely. Newham, on the other hand, were wasteful, ending the quarter 21-11 down.
The second quarter was more of the same, Leopards centre Lawrence Brown lethal on both offence and defence, with free throws the best source of points for Newham. The half ended 39-22 with Leopards in control.
Newham came out firing in the third quarter, with good defence and much more clinical shooting. An 8-2 run caused Leopards coach Robert Youngblood to call a timeout, with the lead cut to 11. But Newham lost momentum as the quarter wore on and a couple of Will Ashby 3 pointers restored the Leopards advantage, with the quarter ending 56-39.
The game became stretched in the final quarter, perhaps due to tiredness setting in amongst the Neptunes squad. The Leopards accelerated away, opening up a 30 point advantage, the game ending 83-53 in the Leopards favour.
The Leopards extend their record to 6-0 in NBL Division 1.