Leopards returned to the Brentwood Centre on Sunday, having recorded back to back victories against league newcomers Edinburgh Rocks and a cup success at Plymouth in midweek.

Leopards paraded their new forward Tim Moore from University of Houston, but started sluggishly and Eagles opened up a substantial lead in the first quarter.

Newcastle, with Blaylock and ex-Leopard Ian Whyte prominent, moved into a 23-8 lead.

The introduction of Moore boosted the Leopards and his dunk followed by a three-pointer by Robert Youngblood reduced the arrears and Newcastle led 28-17 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Leopards endeavour to cut further into the Eagles lead, but were unable to get any sort of run going and Newcastle led by nine points at half-time (45-36).

Newcastle started the stronger and extended their lead to 15 points, but the introduction of Steadroy Baker and determined play inside the key by Youngblood saw Leopards cut the Eagles lead to eight points at the end of the third quarter.

In a two minute spell at the start of the final quarter debutante Tim Moore dominated the court and cut the Eagles lead to just three points.

However, at the moment when Leopards needed to make baskets and defend with intensity, they started to turn the ball over, letting Newcastle regroup.

In the last two minutes Newcastle finished the stronger and ran out clear winners by a 13 point margin.

At present, the Leopards are far from the finished article, many of the newly-recruited overseas players are yet to perform, and this effectively leaves captain Robert Youngblood to carry the team and the battle of the boards at both ends of the court.

However, in Tim Moore, it would seem that coach Billy Mims has recruited a power forward who could be a dominant force in the Budweiser League this winter.

On a high . . Newcastle Eagles find the basket in Sunday's Budweiser League match against the Greater London Leopards at the Brentwood Centre, a match that Newcastle won 83-70.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.