With one second to go Eric Burks stood on the free throw line, the game was tied at 70-70, he had driven at the basket but had been fouled as he went up for the lay-up.

He had two shots to win the game. His first shot hit the rim and bounced out, with one shot remaining it was victory or overtime, the shot left his hand - and hit nothing but string, meaning the Leopards had pulled off a victory which two minutes earlier seemed far from likely.

The game started slowly, Leopards seemed sluggish after their victory at Worthing on Saturday night.

The Lions had come to battle, and were intent on denying space under the basket to Youngblood and Tim Moore.

Leopards took the lead towards the end of the quarter when Burks drove down the centre was fouled in the act of shooting, the basket counted and he scored the plus one.

The Leopards three point lead did not last long, ex-Towers veteran Tony Windlass came into the game for Milton Keynes and his presence increased the Lions confidence.

Again the Leopards fell foul to the Referees with Robert Youngblood being called for a technical, after a foul, the resulting four shots were all converted, the Lions had put together a 13-4 run and established a healthy six point lead which they kept to the interval (39-33).

At the start of the third period the Lions extended their lead to nine points and in spite of the efforts of the Leopards they could not reduce the deficit to less than five points for a number of minutes.

The Leopards also ran into foul trouble when captain Robert Youngblood collected his fourth foul, which forced Coach Mims to take him out for a spell.

The Lions' lead was finally cut to one when Eric Burks scored as the clock ran down to end the quarter (56-55).

In the last quarter the Lions again opened a six point gap at 66-60, but a Burks three point shot reduced the arrears. However with 43 seconds remaining Leopards still trailed 70-68.

The home side applied fierce pressure to the ball carrier, forcing a travel and a subsequent turn over.

With 29 seconds left Youngblood fouled out adjudged for a pushing foul while trying to regain control of the ball.

Leopards still needed possession of the ball and this they achieved when under pressure a Lions player stepped out of bounds.

From the restart Tim Moore went strong to the basket to level the scores at 70-70.

Again Leopards forced the turn over with four seconds left in regulation time. The ball was put in the hands of Eric Burks, as the lane opened for him, he was fouled on the arm as he rose for the shot.

With the game on the line, his nerve survived and Leopards had won their last game at Brentwood for this season.

The Leopards return to Essex on Sunday (March 28) when they entertain Leicester Riders at the Southend Tennis and Leisure Centre (tip-off is at 6pm).

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.