Excitement, joy, relief, it is difficult to define the emotion of Leopards players and supporters at the final buzzer of their vital "bottom of the table" clash at the Brighton Centre.
The Leopards, still reeling after their Uniball Trophy exit barely 48 hours earlier, showed nerves and a lack of confidence in the opening minutes, typical of a side in the middle of a nightmare sequence of results.
In the early encounters every debatable refereeing call went against the Big Cats, who collected eight personal fouls in the first eight minutes.
As a result, the Leopards' early lead was overwhelmed by the Bears who went on a 12-4 run to lead by ten (24-14) at the end of the first period.
At the start of the second quarter, Kenya Capers, who perhaps surprisingly had not started for the Leopards, got into the game with successive baskets and with support from Jason Kimbrough and Michael Martin, cut the Bears lead to just five points.
The second period saw the Leopards struggle to cope with the presence of the Bears Charles Claxton, who at seven feet tall, posed a problem inside.
Claxton 'walked' around the key collecting points while a variety of Leopards took turns to guard him.
The half ended with the Leopards down by nine points (31-40).
As is often the case, tough defence, epitomised by the play of John Tresvant and Dave Attewell, is the key to offense, and so it proved in the third quarter.
The Leopards hustled and scrapped for every ball and steals and interceptions came their way.
Successive baskets from Brandon Brantley and Kimbrough, plus the first 'three' of the night from Capers cut the Bears lead to six points.
With one minute to run in the third period, it started raining ''threes' as Kimbrough, twice, and Capers found their range to send the Leopards to their bench with a one point lead behind a 11-0 run.
The final quarter saw the Leopards extend their lead.
Kimbrough started to run the court, and the Leopards started to play some structured offense that saw accurate passing, creating room and time for the quality shot.
In addition, Brantley, who had failed to score significant points in recent games, became more prominent.
In the space of three minutes the Leopards opened up an eight point lead which they refused to surrender.
The Bears only response came from Michael Brown who nailed five three point shots but the Leopards carried a ten point lead into the final two minutes.
The last minute saw the Bears in desperate search of Kimbrough who weaved around the court, running the clock down and when fouled, he stepped to the line to ensure that the Leopards losing streak of seven games came to an end.
The travelling Leopards fans rose as one to cheer their team off court to mark the end of a seven game losing run, the longest in the Club's history.
Leopards' Coach Bob Donewald's belief that once all the players were familiar with the offensive strategy, a victory would be achieved, proved correct.
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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