This was basketball at its most dramatic.

The last time these two teams met at the Brentwood Centre the game went to the wire with the Bears snatching an improbable victory.

On Saturday night in front of a packed Brighton Centre with a noisy crowd of over 3,000, the Bears and Leopards did battle again.

Once again Coach Pullem reverted to a zone defence and restored Rico Alderson to the starting line up. Alderson repaid with an opening three point shot.

The Kool Kats used the zone to fast break to good effect and Jason Kimbrough showed his intent taking the ball to the hoop for a lay up and followed up with a three point effort.

Leopards were up 8-2, and although Bears Albert White hit a long range shot, Kimbrough and Alderson soon cancelled this out as Leopards moved further ahead 12-5.

Jason Kimbrough was soon called for two fouls and had to return to the bench, and Rico Alderson soon followed after receiving "technical foul" from the match officials.

By the end of a breathless first quarter Leopards led 24-12.

Coach Pullem restored the starting five at the start of the second quarter and baskets from Henlan and Alderson saw Leopards ahead by a sixteen point margin (28-12).

Not surprisingly the Bears launched a come back going on an 11-2 run, which saw the score move to 30-23.

Leopards again reverted to the zone which at this stage was still causing the Bears problems however the Bears high pressure defense had an impact at the other end of the court where the Leopards turned the ball over twice on 24 second violations.

Leopards could be pleased to go to the locker room leading 39-31.

The opening plays of the third quarter were interrupted by technical problems with the 24 second clock, in fact erratic timing was a sporadic problem throughout the game.

However the Leopards settled to their task and started to compete on the boards.

While Leopards lead built to sixteen points, the foul count on Kimbrough and Henlan was also building.

By the midway point in the third period Henlan stood on four fouls and Kimbrough on three.

Team fouls soon intervened and the Bears started to reduce the lead from the foul line.

Nevertheless a further three point shot from Ravonte Dantzler showed that Leopards had plenty of ammunition left as the game headed for a nerve breaking final ten minute with the Kool Kats ahead by a margin of eleven points (64-53).

Leopards turned the ball over and lost possession which prompted Coach Pullem to call a time out to calm matters down.

Leopards 'ran the clock' ensuring that precious seconds were used on each offense.

With 4:32 left Leopards led by eleven (74-61), however Bears were finding their range from behind the three point line and the Leopards lead was being eroded.

The heat was rising and with 1:42 left the referees called "technicals " on both coaches.

A minute in a basketball game is a long time but ultimately with six seconds remaining the Bears got the ball back trailing by two, Leopards defended to the last and when the shot from Davis came up short, Leopards had got their victory.

The Leopards points scorers were: Rico Alderson 25, Jason Kimbrough 19, Mo Robinson 11, Rod Brown 10, Martin Henlan 8, Tey Dantzler 11, Carl Miller 2, Darren Mills 3.

Published Tuesday March 12, 2002