Basketball: Leopards leap into the final

The game, at the Coventry Skydome, was televised on BBC2, which gave the Leopards valuable exposure and they were determined not to waste the opportunity by opening up an initial 9-3 lead in the opening two minutes

The Leopards offense was quickly in its stride and within the first four minutes, everyone of the Leopards starters were already on the scoresheet.

After six minutes of play, Leopards Coach Bob Donewald re-introduced Maurice Robinson to action.

Robinson, who had been out with an injured calf muscle for some weeks, was used carefully, allowing Dave Attewell necessary periods on the bench in order to cope with simply the number of players that the Towers had on their roster.

The Towers gradually cut the Leopards lead and moved ahead briefly before a Leopards fast break saw Rashod Johnson feed Jason Kimbrough who finished with an uncontested lay up to ensure the sides finished the first quarter tied at 21-21.

The second period saw the Towers big men soon get into foul trouble as first Henlan and then newly registered Carter were called for blocks.

Although Attewell replaced Robinson, the Leopards were struggling against the Towers Bucknell.

Trailing by four points, Donewald called a time out urging his offense to be more patient, however on the next playJohnson was called for an offensive foul, his third personal.

For Donewald this presented an immediate problem, to take Johnson out would remove Leopards main scoring threat, leaving him in was a high risk strategy as a fourth foul could mean a lengthy spell on the bench in the second half.

Johnson remained on court and immediately rewarded his coach's courage by hitting a three point shot to cut the Towers lead to one point.

A 5-0 run gave Leopards the lead and allowed Donewald the chance to now rest Johnson.

Leopards should have gone further ahead but a blatant shirt pull on Kimbrough was missed by the officials and soon after Towers' Ronnie Baker hit a three point shot for the lead to swing back to the Towers.

This gave them a one point advantage, 39-38, that they held to half time.

The third period belonged to the Big Cats, as they opened with a Johnson three and soon after went on a 10-1 run including two "and 1"plays from Rico Alderson whose work on the boards was an outstanding feature of this phase of play.

When Towers Warren was called for his fourth foul, their coach Nick Nurse exchanged angry words with the table officials.

When Donewald attempted to enter the discussion, Nurse appeared to throw an elbow and was lucky that the officials chose to ignore this ugly incident.

The Towers seemed intent on playing 'stop Johnson' by whatever means necessary, and soon after what Leopards fans had been dreading happened when the Leopards shooting guard collapsed on court.

The pain was obvious on Johnson's face while he was treated, and he was helped from the court as the physiotherapist tried to manipulate Johnson's shoulder.

Meanwhile in Johnson's absense Rod Brown stepped up, the Leopards lead moved into double figures but on the down side Attewell collected his fourth foul.

Leopards carried a 13 point advantage into the final period, but after last weeks events, no Leopards players or fans were taking anything for granted.

A Randy Duck three cut the arrears to ten, but a 6-0 run meant Leopards opened out to a sixteen point lead.

With Johnson off court and Robinson not fully fit,the last thing Leopards needed was to have players foul out but with 6.55 remaining, Attewell was called for his fifth foul.

At this stage it appeared that every call went for the Towers who took advantage of the situation , a Warren 'and 1' plus two threes from Henlan and Burks cut the lead to eight points.

Soon the Towers had assembled a 10-0 run and the Leopards lead was down to just four.

Sitting in the Skydome, it was difficult not to have an acute sense of deja vu.

Only days before a large Leopards lead had been chipped away, and the question was, would it happen again, could the Leopards battered and wounded hold out.

With 1.15 left on the clock. Robinson was called for a loose ball foul, and the foul count in the fourth quarter now stood at 7-0 against the Leopards.

The Towers, according to the officials, had pulled back a 13 point lead and in nine minutes had not committed a foul, cynics would call it fantasy basketball.

However at this moment of adversity the basketball gods looked favourably upon the Leopards.

Cometh the hour andcometh 'the man', as Rashod Johnson returned to court and within seconds he produced an inspirational jump shot to give Leopards a four point lead.

Although Towers cut the lead to two, they were faced with the fact that they could not stop the clock and regain possession as they still had fouls to give before reaching the penalty..

Ten seconds remained, and the Leopards lead was just one point.

Each attempt to inbound the ball saw Towers players instantaneously foul the nearest Leopard.

Finally the ball was inbounded to Kimbrough who managed to take just over four seconds off the match clock before passing to Alderson who was fouled.

Now Alderson stepped to the line, his first shot nervously rolled around the rim and fell away, but his nerve held, and the second foul shot fell through the net. Leopards were up by two points, with 5.9 seconds remaining.

A successful three point shot would give the game to Towers, a two point play would mean overtime.

Towers moved the ball swiftly down court , the Leopards retreated on defense, the offense floundered, Duck put up the shot off balance, it was way off to the right.

The Leopards had done it. Overcoming injuries, putting aside disappointments,they remained focussed and shout it out Brentwood has a team in a National Cup Final.

The Leopards points scorers were: Rico Alderson 22, Rod Brown 17, Rashod Johnson 12, Jason Kimbrough 11, Dave Attewell 10, Mo Robinson eight, and Michael Martin four.

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