Leopards travelled to the Bletchley Leisure Centre on Sunday to take on the Milton Keynes Lions in determined mood.

Coach Mike Taylor rearranged his starting five, countering the physical threat posed by Lions Jason Siemon with twin centres David fisher and David Attewell. With the emphasis on size Yorick Williams also started at the small forward position.

Siemon started well for the home side scoring their first four points, but Yorick Williams countered and the Leopards took the lead for the first time at 6-4 following his pump action jump shot.

However the England international was quick to draw two fouls and had to come to the bench, and at the end of the first period the Lions led by four points (23-19)

The second quarter belonged to Trevor "ice" Diggs.

Coming off the bench, the shooting guard from New York clearly had something to prove and in a blistering spell stunned the home crowd with a series of deadly long range shots. He amassed 17 points in the quarter as the Kool Kats main offensive threat.

At half time the leopards trailed by two points at 42-44. However, soon after the restart Leopards went on a 15-2 run including three point shots from both Sly McIntosh and Yorick Williams.

The balance was tilting towards the Leopards who led by two points (64-62) at the end of the third quarter.

Baskets from McIntosh and David Attewell saw the Leopards reassert themselves at the start of the final ten minutes, and although the Milton Keynes side attempted to respond a 9-0 Leopards run took the score to 78-65 with four minutes left on the clock.

Two foul shots well executed under pressure from Wiliams made the game safe, but a turnover in the dying seconds allowed Rod Brown to finish the game in style as Leopards come home by a margin of seven points.

Published Thursday October 17, 2002

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