Dave Ryan reports…
Levett Essex Leopards will look for their seventh win in eight games when they travel to London Westside on Saturday evening.
After a weekend where they split their games, with a loss against Nottingham and a win in Birmingham, it’s close to win or bust for the rest of the season for Thomas Baker’s team.
The Big Cats hammered the struggling London side 104-64 when they met at the Brentwood Centre in October, and although they have improved since, Frank Lampty’s team are still second from bottom in the NBL Division Two table with a 3-8 record at the midway stage of the season.
Leopards’ promotion hopes took a knock on Saturday as a poor final period cost them against league leaders Nottingham Hoods.
The Big Cats were outscored 19-10 in the final quarter as Hoods ran out 76-64 winners at the Brentwood Centre.
The home side’s lack of size proved to be their downfall as they were outrebounded 58-44, and they went scoreless for four minutes down the stretch as Hoods collected their 12th win in 13 games,
Jerrell Layne led the Big Cats for the first time since joining in November, hitting three treys on the way to 12 points. Captain Dougie Bennett had a tough shooting night, but finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Will Ashby added ten points and Jamie Hayes had nine points and seven boards.
The Big Cats started well with Brentwood trio Bennett, Ashby and Hayes all draining three pointers as they rushed into a 13-6 lead.
That proved to be as good as it got for the hosts, and although they were still in the game until the final stages, Hoods finished strongly to stay top of the table.
Sunday’s trip to Team Birmingham Elite proved to be a completely different matter as the Big Cats cruised to an 84-67 victory, having led by 27 at the final break.
Coach Baker was able to give all 11 of his roster double-digit minutes on the court, and they were led by Ashby (19), Lewis (18) and Hayes (11) in an all-round scoring effort.
Ashby and Taberner both completed three-point plays as Leopards rushed into an 8-0 lead, and after Lewis had drained a three with two first period minutes remaining, the hosts never got closer than 10 points again.
It was truly raining threes as Ashby and Lewis added to the tally to give Leopards a 51-28 half-time lead and a jump shot from Jamie Rodwell put them up by 30 near the end of the third period.
A rally from the home side saw them chip away at the lead in the fourth quarter, but Leopards never looked in danger as they reached the halfway point in their league campaign with an 8-3 record.
The Big Cats are next at the Brentwood Centre on Sunday February 4 with the visit of Sussex Bears (4pm) while the return game with Birmingham has been brought forward 30 minutes to a 6.30pm tip-off on Saturday February 10.
