Coach hails his Leopards for swift recovery (From Echo)

Coach hails his Leopards for swift recovery

2:44pm Tuesday 14th February 2012 in Basketball By Chris Phillips

THERE were mixed results for Leopards at the weekend as they went out of the National Trophy at Bristol Academy Flyers before bouncing back to beat Leicester Warriors.

That handed them a seventh successive league victory.

And coach Dejan Mihevc’s was delighted to see his side immediately get back to winning ways.

“We got home from Bristol around one in the morning so it was always going to be tough to play again the next day, ” said Mihevc.

“After losses like this, you are always a little emotionally drained but our guys responded really well.

“Before the game we were motivated and guys showed a high level of concentration, especially in defence where we held Leicester to only 20 points in first half.

“With the right approach and really good effort we won and the guys deserve all the praise and congratulations for a win.”

Leopards never recovered from a poor start in Bristol as the home team gained revenge for their National Cup final defeat with a 69-62 victory.

But it was a different story on Sunday as Leopards were never behind and saw off Warriors 70-58.

Dominic Norton scored the first two Leopards baskets and they led by as many as 11 points before going in to the first break with a 21-12 lead.

That was extended to 31-20 in a low scoring second period and Leopards continued to dominate in the third period with Ousman Krubally taking the margin to 22 points as the home side went into the final break with a 54-38 lead.

A 10-2 start to the final period saw Warriors get the lead down to eight, but that was as close as they came and Leopards hung on to jump two places in the table to seventh with at least four games in hand over all of the sides above them.

Vernon Teel missed out on a triple-double by a single assist, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Krubally had a massive 23 rebounds to go with his 17 points.

David Buchberger also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Leopards return to action at the Basildon Sporting Village this Sunday when they host Leeds Carnegie, tip off 4pm.