Mets lose to Warriors, Leopards defeat Leeds
16th November 2009by Dave Ryan
There were mixed results for Division One's two London sides at the weekend.
London Mets hosted Leicester Warriors and slipped to their fourth straight loss in all competitions as they went down 92-89. The result sees Karl Brown's Warriors team move up to joint third in the table, while Mets are now seventh.
Meanwhile, a strong fourth period set London Leopards up for their first league victory of the season at the Brentwood Centre on Sunday as Leeds Carnegie were beaten 71-58 (stats/boxscore).
The Big Cats outscored a Leeds side previously unbeaten in the league 28-12 in the final quarter to move up to ninth in the table. Carl Latham-Henry led the Leopards' scoring for the seventh time this season with 22 points, adding six rebounds and four assists. Ignazio De Ferrari added 13 points and an impressive seven blocks, while Marlan Henry finished with 11 points and Leigh Greenan had a ten point, 15 rebound double-double.
Leeds' Adrian Fenyn led all scorers with 24 points and 14 rebounds, but fellow American Mike Medved was the only other Carnegie player in double figures with 19.
The Big Cats took advantage of some poor free-throw shooting from the visitors, hitting 13 of their 14 foul shots in comparison to Leeds' 10 from 28, while Carnegie also failed to hit a three pointer, missing on all 14 occasions.
Greenan opened the scoring for the Big Cats and Latham-Henry hit a trey to give them a 5-0 lead. Medved broke the run, and launched an 8-0 Leeds tear to give them the lead. The first period was clearly full of runs as Leopards replied with six unanswered points, De Ferrari hitting a jump shot before Latham-Henry scored back-to-back baskets. With Ronnie Baker getting the first two of his nine points, Leopards kept their noses in front, and went into the second period with a 16-12 lead.
Sam Richardson opened the second quarter scoring before Latham-Henry buried a three putting the home side 21-12 ahead.
Dave Siddall broke the 8-0 run with a pair of free-throws, but four straight misses at the foul line from Adrian Fenyn and Ladi Brown set the tone and Baker punished them with a score from downtown putting the Leopards ahead by 12 after four minutes.
Brown and De Ferrari exchanged baskets, but Latham-Henry kept the Leopards' double digit lead intact as they went into the final four minutes of the half. However, at that point Leopards suffered a scoring drought, and with Fenyn hitting six points, Leeds reeled off ten straight reducing the hosts lead to 30-29.
Greenan broke the run, but Zoltan Supola hit a pair of free-throws and Fenyn scored a jump shot giving the visitors a 33-32 lead heading into the final 20 seconds of the half, before Henry ensured the Big Cats would take a two point lead into the locker room when he drained from downtown.
De Ferrari was the first player to put points on the board in the second half, but that proved to be Leopards' only score of the first five minutes. Leeds also struggled from the floor, with only Medved and Brown scoring from open play, and with the visitors hitting only one of their five free-throws they only took minimal advantage of London's drought to move 40-37 ahead. Henry ended the run with a pair from the charity stripe and a Greenan put-back gave Leopards a 41-40 advantage.
However, Leeds finished the period the stronger, with only Henry scoring in the final three minutes as a 6-2 run sent Carnegie into the final break with a 46-43 lead.
Latham-Henry cut that lead to one with a pair of free-throws to open the fourth period, and De Ferrari scored the Land of Plenty to put Leopards 48-46 ahead. Medved and Francesco Rinaldi exchanged baskets, and the sides were tied at 52 going into the final five minutes of the game.
Fenyn missed a pair of free-throws before Latham-Henry hit a lay-up followed by a trey to give Leopards a lead they never lost.
Fenyn kept Leeds in touch, but back-to-back Henry scores saw Leopards' lead extended to nine before Latham-Henry made it a double-digit lead. With Leeds forced to foul to stop the clock, Baker and Greenan kept their nerve at the foul line to send the large Brentwood crowd home happy.