The 6’5″  Californian can play both guard spots and is expected to fly into the country this week the Big Cats aiming to get international clearance in time for Magic’s visit.

The 24-year-old graduated from Union College in the States and played professionally for Buffalo 716ers in the Pro Basketball League in his home country

Roberts transferred to Union from Niagra County Community College in New York where he played two seasons of basketball. He was named third team all-region as a freshman and first team all-region as a sophomore in junior college. The new Leopard earned the team MVP award in both his seasons. In junior college, he averaged 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks per game.

Prior to that Roberts prepped at Niagara Catholic (N.Y.) High School where he played basketball and football. He led his basketball team to the 2005 and 2007 MMCC Title, along with a Catholic State runner-up in 2007. In high school basketball, Roberts earned first team all-Catholic, defensive MVP, team MVP twice, and team captain three times.

Leopards’ coach Steve Ogunjimi is delighted to have Roberts on board: “AJ was in the country during the summer, he’s played with our guys and I think he’ll be a really good fit for us” he said.

“We lack depth at the guard positions, especially with Bode’s [Adeloula] knee still causing him problems, and I believe AJ can push us on to the next level and help us win some silverware.”

Roberts will be one of the Leopards’ players .taking part in the Big Cats’ pre-game coaching session for junior players on Sunday. Places can be booked on www.leopardsbasketball.co.uk.

The Big Cats will face a tough test against a Magic side who won all four pieces of EBL silverware last season. Despite the loss of league MVP Ellis Cooper, they have continued where they left off with six straight victories to open the campaign and are already through the National Trophy semi-final.

Meanwhile, Leopards general manger Dave Ryan has criticised Ipswich after the Suffolk club pulled out of Sunday’s National Cup game at Harlow with under six hours’ notice:

“It’s really disappointing, and makes the whole sport look amateurish” said Ryan. “We were called at 9.40 on Sunday morning to be told that they couldn’t raise a team, and it’s really not acceptable. They managed to put a team out for a home game on Saturday evening, but obviously it was too much effort to get on a mini bus the following day.

“We’d put a lot of time and effort into promoting the game and, as I don’t hold out much hope of getting proper compensation, we stand to lose  a lot of money we can’t afford.

“We spent a lot of time on Sunday morning trying to ensure everyone knew the game was off, but people still turned up at Leisurezone on Sunday afternoon and if they think the whole sport is Micky Mouse and don’t bother coming again it’s hard to blame them.

“We’re through to the next round, but that isn’t much consolation, we wanted to see our team play but instead we all wasted our time.”

The Big Cats will travel to Kent Crusaders in the last 16 after the Division Two side hammered an understrength London Lituanica team by 51 points on Sunday. The game is scheduled for Sunday October 30.

The no-show by Ipswich completed a miserable weekend for the Big Cats as they went down 59-52 against Loughborough Riders at Leisurezone, on Saturday evening.

The home side looked to have recovered from a lacklustre display as Adeloula sent them into the final period 44-41 ahead, but the visitors went on a 10-0 run to grab a lead they would never lose.

Two-from-four foul shooting from Ladi Brown made it a one point game heading into the final 90 seconds, but the hosts didn’t trouble the scorers again, and Riders wrapped things up from the free-throw line.

Foul shooting proved to Leopards’ Achilles heal as they converted just five of their 16 attempts at the charity stripe.

David Ajumobi led a Leopards’ side who were without the injured Mike Martin, finishing with 15 points and eight rebounds. Brown added 12 boards and eight points.