Leopards returned to Brentwood, in what was billed as the battle of the Big Cats.

After dominating the first half, the Leopards fell victim to a lethal combination of the Tigers John McCord and some bizarre refereeing calls.

As a result, the Tigers came away victorious to cement their third position in the Budweiser League.

The Leopards started the game brightly, their regular starting five, all opened their accounts, and Tim Moore dominated the boards at both ends of the court.

When Rashod Johnson hit a long range three point shot in the last minute of the first quarter the Leopards had established a seven point lead (27-20).

In the second quarter coach Mims introduced his bench players to good effect.

Peter Deppisch hit three three-point shots and these combined with nine points in the quarter from Tim Moore meant that the Leopards had established an 11 point lead at the interval (54-43).

At the start of the third period, the Tigers began to fight back going on an 11-2 run, forcing turnovers and cutting the Leopards lead to just three points.

Robert Youngblood extended Leopards lead to five, but the momentum had swung, and a Casey Arena three point shot tied the game at 62-62.

Leopards began to get in foul trouble, Tim Moore who had collected 13 rebounds in the first half alone was called for his fourth foul, and coach Mims had no alternative but to take him out of the game.

Without Moore's presence, Thames Valley could assert themselves around the basket and they finished the quarter with a five point lead (69-64).

The fourth quarter was unfortunately dominated by controversial refereeing calls: within the first minute of the quarter Rashod Johnson was called for a technical foul.

Although the Leopards cut the lead to three through Robert Youngblood, the Leopards captain was called for a personal foul followed by a technical which stretched the Tigers lead to 12 points when McCord went to the line and scored all four free throws.

The Leopards endeavoured to claw back the Tigers lead in the last two minutes but too many unforced errors, turnovers and erratic calls by the officials meant the Tigers were safe by nine points at the end.

Leopards scorers: Tim Moore 17 points; Rashod Johnson 15 points; Robert Youngblood 19 points; Eric Burks 14 points; Ben Baum 6 points; Peter Dippisch 11 points.

The Leopards return to the Brentwood Centre on Sunday when they entertain Milton Keynes Lions, tip off 4pm.

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