by PAUL JEATER

At 11.50pm on Wednesday at the Bletchley Leisure Centre in Milton Keynes, 21 seconds remained in what had become a nerve wracking contest between the Lions and the Leopards.

The score was tied at 87-87, the ball was in the hands of former Leopards hero Eric Burks, he dribbled down court and used seconds off the clock, he would take the final shot of regulation time regardless.

He moved to the left hand side of the court, he looked up, would he drive to the basket as he had done on many previous occasions for the Leopards.

Perhaps expecting the drive, Leopards players moved back to defend the key, in a split second from way beyond three point range he put up the shot.

The ball seemed to travel towards the basket in slow motion, it completed its arc and began to drop, it never touched the rim as it fell through the net.

Less than two seconds remained and Burks had won the game at the buzzer.

Leopards' Coach Bob Donewald and the Leopards left the court immediately wondering how they had managed to lose this game.

The game was scheduled to tip-off at 7.30pm, but it started over 150 minutes late at 10.05pm because of a road crash at the M25/M1 junction.

The Leopards arrived on court at 9.45pm; yet with scarcely no preparation time the "Big Cats" came to play.

In the first five minutes Rashod Johnson's second effort was a successful three point shot.

After five minutes Leopards were up 14-6 with Johnson on nine points, but he had collected two fouls which forced him to sit out significant periods but with Jason Kimbrough and Brandon Brantley contributing and Dave Attewell dominating the boards the Leopards led 24-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The first play of the second period showed Leopards basketball at its best.

Kimbrough collected a rebound went 'coast to coast' and put the ball in the basket with a finger roll to extend the Leopards lead to 12 points.

The Lions fought back with a 6-0 run as a result of Leopards turnovers.

With just over six minutes remaining in the half, Rashod Johnson was called for his third foul, and this led to Lions coach Vince Macaulay-Razaq being ejected from the arena for two technical fouls.

The official explanation given later was the ejection came for him leaving his "coaching box".

The game restarted with Brantley shooting four foul shots successfully to restore Leopards ten point advantage (30-20).

This lead they maintained through to the interval, by which stage Kimbrough had collected 17 points to lead all scorers. The scoreline read 43-33.

The second half began with a Kimbrough three point shot but the next five minutes belonged to Kojo Bonsu.

Leopards went on a 14-5 run with Kojo scoring 12 of the 14 points, to take the score to 63-40.

A basket and two successful foul shots from Johnson saw the Leopards lead reach 19 points (64-45), their largest of the night.

Suddenly the game started to swing towards Milton Keynes.

The Lions then attacked on fast breaks through Burks and Cox and a 13-2 run with seven consequtive points from Burks cut the Leopards lead to just five (65-60) at the end of the third quarter.

The final quarter saw Attewell collect four quick points from inside the key.

Attewell dominated the defensive boards amassing 12 rebounds, but the Leopards were punished for allowing Tony Windless open for two three point shots and with four minutes 20 seconds remaining, the Lions took the lead for the first time in the contest 78-77.

At this stage the Leopards appeared to be giving up possession too easily with only Johnson a constant threat at the offensive end.

Yet when Kimbrough fouled out with three minutes 45 seconds left in the game the Leopards still only trailed by one point.

Four points by Burks extended the Lions lead to five, but going into the final minute the Leopards had cut the lead to just two and John Tresvant stood on the foul line to square the game.

He missed both shots, indeed the team missed seven foul shots down the stretch, never has the "charity stripe" been more inappropriately named.

Leopards applied the pressure and a steal resulted in Johnson squaring the game at 87-87.

As midnight approached, Eric Burks sealed the Leopards fate, and the 30 or so Leopards fans who had managed to get to Milton Keynes moved away into the night.

The Leopards' points scorers were: Rashod Johnson 25, Jason Kimbrough 24, Kojo Bonsu 17, Brandon Brantley 11, Dave Attewell six and John Tresvant four.

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