Leopards Rowell Graham is back to his best

Big Cats return empty-handed

Leopards managed to make it to Reading at the weekend, but came away on the wrong end of a 74-63 scoreline against the unbeaten league leaders.

The game was one of only five out of a scheduled 52 men’s league games to take place, with Leopards making the longest trip of any of the visiting teams.

But their efforts went unrewarded, as Rockets finished strongly against Robert Youngblood’s men to claim the Division One points.

“We did the right thing by playing the game, despite the result,” said general manager Dave Ryan.

“If we had been away to one of the north east clubs or in Yorkshire it would have been different, but I couldn’t believe some of the games were postponed this weekend. It’s an indoor sport!”

A tight first half saw little between the teams, and but it was Rockets’ Danny Carter who converted a three point play with the last score of the half to give his side the biggest lead of the game at 31-26 going into the locker room.

Greg Hernandez’s score on the break after a Rowell Graham block saw the Reading lead cut to 46-44 at the final break, but Leopards noticeably tired in the fourth period as the home side closed out the win.

Hernandez led the Leopards with 20 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Graham showed he is back to his best after missing much of the season with a broken wrist, finishing with 15 points, four rebounds and three blocks in just 16 minutes of action.

Simon Cummings added 12 points, five steals and four rebounds.

Leopards now face five straight games on the road before returning to the Brentwood Centre on Sunday February 10, when newly promoted Team Northumbria are the visitors in a league game, tip-off 4pm.

They will look to get their Division One campaign back on track when they travel to Brixton Topcats on Saturday.

The teams have already met in the National Trophy this season, with Simon Cummings (21) and Rowell Graham (19) combining for 40 points in a comfortable 77-63 victory.

The London side have found things tough going this season and are second bottom in the table with one win from ten games, having gone winless in the Trophy.

Leopards’ National Trophy semi-final at Hemel Storm has been fixed for Saturday February 9, tip-off 7pm at Sports Space in the Herts town.

The Big Cats have already beaten the Storm twice this season and will be looking to reach the final for the first time having lost in the semi-final three times in the last four years.

One further fixture alteration is that the home game against Brixton Topcats which was originally scheduled for Easter Sunday (March 31) will now take place on Good Friday at the Brentwood Centre, tip-off 5pm.