Warriors advance to semis, Leopards reach quarters
17th January 2011by Dave Ryan
A strong second half saw Leicester Warriors reach the Men's National Trophy semi-finals with an 83-69 home win against Durham Wildcats.
Karl Brown's Warriors outscored the visitors 39-28 after the break to wrap up the win, and a place in the last four.
Ex-Leicester Rider Rishi Kakad led Warriors for the second time in the weekend as he finished with a season-high 27 points. Todd Doyle added 24 for the hosts, with Emile Hopkins chipping in with 13, while Paul Elderkin (21) and Paul Nelson (19) were the only Wildcats in double figures.
Durham shaded a tight first period 25-24 before Warriors outscored them by four in the second quarter to take a 44-41 lead into the locker room. A 21-11 third put Warriors in charge, and they wrapped things up with an 18-17 final quarter.
London Leopards powered their way into the National Trophy quarter-finals with a 91-77 victory against Brixton Topcats on Sunday.
The Brentwood Centre crowd were treated to one of the best individual performances ever from a Big Cat as Ousman Krubally came off the bench to finish with 31 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
"I'm pleased with the way we played in a very disjointed game," said Leopards coach Mark Clark. "With 95 free throws in a game it is difficult to get any rhythm. Ouse and Leigh [Greenan] obviously did well as a pair on the inside and it was good to get Simeon [Esprit] quality minutes after last week's injury. Local derbies are always difficult and with Brixton being strong this year it was always going to be tough.
"Our spirit is important to us and we again showed we are prepared to work for each other. It is pleasing to make the knock-out stage of any competition and we will look forward to playing Bristol again next weekend. As it is our third meeting already there should be no surprises."
London will now travel to Division One leaders Bristol Academy Flyers next Sunday where they will face a team who have lost only once in 17 games this season.
Leigh Greenan also recorded a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, with Marlan Henry adding a season-high 14 points and seven assists, and Josh Sharlow chipping in with 13 points.
Karolis Petkus led the visitors with 17 points, with Dave Ajumobi adding 14 and Paul Mundy-Castle and Marcus Knight each chipping in with 11 points.
The game was won on the boards, with Leopards out-rebounding the Topcats 50-35, although with Petkus coming up with four steals the visitors did force Clark's side into 23 turnovers.
The visitors started strongly, with Ajumobi capping a 7-0 run, and it took until the 5:51 mark for Greenan to get them off the mark.
Six straight Krubally points dragged Leopards back into the game as they took a 10-9 lead following an 8-0 run, but it was the visitors who went into the first break with a 20-17 lead despite Krubally taking his tally to ten with the final basket of the quarter.
Krubally opened the second period scoring, and he scored London's first seven points of the quarter as they regained the lead at 21-19 after two minutes. Neither side were able to pull away, though, with the biggest lead coming with 5:25 on the clock when Krubally converted off Sharlow's assist.
But Brixton hit back with nine unanswered points capped by a three from former Leopard Paul Mundy-Castle, and although Josh Johnson scored the final points of the half from the free-throw stripe, it was Brixton who went into the locker room with a 37-35 lead.
The second half proved to be a long-winded affair as it took 71 minutes to complete with 47 fouls called and 72 trips to the foul line.
The third period was crucial as the visitors were outscored 28-15, but after a tight start it wasn't until the 5:33 mark that Sharlow gave the Leopards a 43-42 lead - and they never trailed again.
Six unanswered points capped by a pair at the line by Krubally put Leopards 55-47 up going into the final two minutes of the quarter, and eight straight points from Henry sent them into the final break 63-52 ahead.
Much of the fourth period was spent at the foul line as five Topcats along with Sharlow and Simeon Esprit fouled out of the game, but the visitors were never able to make any real inroad into the deficit.
Tom Adorian made it a nine point game with 7:43 left when he converted a three-point play following a Greenan foul.
Ladi Brown made it 75-70 with two minutes left only for Avelino Antonio to pick up a technical foul and the Leopards wrapped the victory up from the foul line.
The result means that Reading Rockets win the group and straight into the semi-final draw, and Leopards will travel to Bristol Academy Flyers in the quarter-final next Sunday.