Leopards will be looking to put their relegation fears behind them when they entertain Bristol Academy Flyers at Barking Abbey on Sunday.

 

It will be the fourth home game that the Big Cats have staged at the east London venue this season and they have a perfect record so far. Once again the Leopards are offering free admission to the game.

 

Flyers go into the game in fifth place with a 10-5 record and are one of four sides locked on five defeats in an extremely tight Division One table. Meanwhile Leopards' fears of the drop intensified with a pair of defeats over the weekend and they remain in ninth spot with a five wins from 14 games.

 

But there were signs that Jon Burnell's team have turned the corner.The Big Cats went down 96-91 at fellow strugglers Tees Valley Mohawks on Saturday and 97-91 at Reading the following day, but had chances to win both games and now appear to be pulling together as a team.

 

"I think we're playing better together than in recent weeks," said Burnell.

 

"We're desperately short of numbers, but there's nothing we can do about that. We have to buckle down and get on with it. With a little bit more luck, or a couple of different decisions down the stretch, we could have won both games over the weekend. If we continue to play like that, we'll be okay."

 

Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas was delighted after last Saturday's home win against London Mets:

 

"Every game really matters now in terms of league positioning," he admitted. "London are an extremely tough side and the win versus them matters a lot. They will be one of the teams that will upset a few sides in the last remaining games. We are pleased with the home result but we need to look ahead as we have two really difficult away fixtures."

 

The Greek coach took the time to praise the two young leaders of the Flyers team, Tyrone Treasure and Greg Streete, and urged them to carry on their great performances:

 

"Both, Ty and Greg are key components of our success this year. Greg is having one of the best seasons of his career and he has done extremely well in his first year as team captain.

 

"Ty, since his return from the States, has shown great improvement in all areas of his game and has brought a new level of energy to our team. Both of them are great on and off the court and I would like to see them continue their really good performances as we are entering the last month of the league season and the league playoffs."

 

Burnell's team will look to repeat their 90-85 win when the sides met at Filton College in December. It was big men Leigh Greenan and Ignazio De Ferrari who did most of the damage for a short-handed Leopards, finishing with 28 and 27 points respectively, while Ronnie Baker led the team superbly and finished with 17 points.

 

When the sides met at Leopards' Brentwood Centre home last season, the game made history as the game started in 2008, but finished in Bristol the following year! This was due to a late game neck injury to London guard Carl Latham-Henry. With the visitors leading 92-86 and 24 second remaining, the game was delayed for 30 minutes and the referees called a halt to proceedings. The remaining 24 seconds were played at Bristol where they hung on for the win.

 

When Leopards and Flyers met in the Trophy at Brentwood earlier that season, things were considerably calmer with London winning 96-81.

 

 

There's a quick repeat of the National Trophy final at London Metropolitan University on Sunday as London Mets host Manchester Magic.

 

Mets marked their first season in the top flight last weekend by winning the Trophy with an 80-73 victory at Crystal Palace.

 

Arturo Noha was the MVP with his 21 point, 10 rebound double-double as the London club consigned Magic to their fifth straight loss in a title game.

 

The league's leading scorer Stefan Gill kept up his fine season with 31 points (7/16 behind the arc), but it wasn't enough to stop the ever-improving Mets.

 

The lead was traded throughout the game with the first double-digit margin coming on a  trey from London coach Solomon Ayinla to close the first half with Mets up 43-33.

 

Manchester chopped away in the third, eventually retaking the lead after Gill hit from outside to make it 57-56, but Ajumobi quickly answered and London hung on to an advantage until the final buzzer.

 

Jeff Danchie had 17 points and 7 boards for the Mets while Courtney Van Beest had 13 and 6. Dave Watts had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Manchester, but struggled shooting from the floor (22% 2Pt FG, 13% 3Pt FG).

 

 

Mar 6 2010 4.00pm	Leicester Warriors	v	Taunton Tigers	Braunstone Leisure Centre
Mar 6 2010 4.00pm	London Mets	v	Derby Trailblazers	London Metropolitan University
Mar 6 2010 6.15pm	Sheffield Arrows	v	Coventry Crusaders	EIS - Sheffield Follow Live Stats
Mar 6 2010 4.00pm	Leeds Carnegie	v	Tees Valley Mohawks	Leeds Metropolitan Carnegie University
Mar 6 2010 7.30pm	Manchester Magic	v	Reading Rockets	Amaechi Basketball Centre Follow Live Stats
Mar 7 2010 2.00pm	London Mets	v	Manchester Magic	London Metropolitan University
Mar 7 2010 5.30pm	London Leopards	v	Bristol Academy Flyers	Barking Abbey