Basketball: White rampant as Leopards race on
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE LEOPARDS outran their capital rivals, the Towers, over the final three minutes in their Budweiser League clash at London Arena last night to make a decisive move towards retaining their championship title with a 93-83 win.
Leopards scored 12 of the game's last 14 points to square their League series 1-1. With last night's defeat being Towers' eighth of the season, when the teams meet again on 15 March it may be only Birmingham Bullets and Sheffield Sharks who are challenging the Leopards for the title.
Birmingham defeated Crystal Palace 95-83 at the NEC last night to join the Leopards on 20 wins from 25 games, ahead of the Sharks on 19 wins from 25. Palace were also victims this weekend of Sheffield, who won 95- 78 at the National Sports Centre on Saturday.
The Leopards' American, John White, produced an unstoppable first-half performance against Towers, scoring 27 points, 21 of them in the second quarter and five fromthree-pointers. His 37-point haul led all scorers, ahead of his team-mates Eric Burks, 24, and Makeeba Perry, who had 12 points and 16 rebounds. Keith Robinson, with 20, top-scored for the Towers, who led for the last time in the game at 32-30.
The Thames Valley Tigers coach, Paul James, hopes his team have finally shaken off their National Cup final hangover after Saturday's 94-86 victory at Leicester put them on the fringe of the championship race. After beating Leicester in the final one month ago, they proceeded to lose to Leopards and Birmingham within a week.
James said: "Suddenly everyone was too satisfied, as if now they had won something they could relax. But we were only halfway through the season. After the Birmingham defeat I set a target of winning at least 10 of the next 12 games and now we are halfway there."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments