Friday's game at the Brentwood Centre reinforced the view that the Eagles are a team that the leopards have major difficulties getting past.

It was the third meeting of the two teams and significantly it was the third victory for the team from the North East.

The decision of England Basketball not to release Leopards international Yorick Williams ahead of the weekends encounter with Portugal most definitely did not help the Kool Kats cause.

Leopards lacked Williams athletism and defensive qualities, however the scale of the defeat suggests that even with the charismatic Williams the Leopards might have struggled to contain the in form Eagles.

A Rod Brown three point shot gave the Leopards an early 5-3 lead and by the midway point in the opening period the Leopards had advanced into a 16-9 lead.

However Arinze and Marvis pulled the Eagles back into the contest and the game was tied at 16-16 with two minutes remaining in the quarter, indeed the Eagles inched ahead 18-20 going into the second period and back looked back.

The Leopards remained in contention in the opening minutes of the second quarter, however in a four minute spell the Eagles put together a 15-6 run which set the pattern for the rest of the game.

By half time the Leopards trailed by an eighteen point margin (28-46)

The only hope for the Leopards was to whittle the Eagles lead away point by point, ensuring that they controlled the boards at both ends.

For a few minutes this strategy appeared to be paying dividends, Leopards went on a 12-0 run that brought the game back within reach at 40-50, and Leopards kept the differential at ten points through to the end of the third quarter

A huge "alley ooop" basket by Marshall Sanders reduced the Eagles lead to just eight points at the start of the final period. However the tide was to turn again, Leopards lacked penetration inside and were forced into poor percentage shots, as a result the Eagles regained the momentum and with two minutes remaining the visitors had rebuilt their twenty point margin.

Published Thursday, January 30, 2003

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