BA London Leopards Win Division 1 Playoffs

By Sam Neter on April 30, 2012

BA London Leopards won the Division 1 playoff title on Sunday, beating Derby Trailblazers 85-82 at the Amaechi Centre, Manchester.

The Leopards were once again led by the dynamic duo of Vernon Teel and Ousman Krubally, as Teel finished with a 32 point, 16 rebound, 12 assist triple double to be named MVP and Krubally dominated to the tune of 34 points and 17 rebounds.

The trophy was the third of the season for the Leopards, who have had their most successful season since they reformed in 2004.

Head coach Dejan Mihevc was elated with the win:

“If winning the league was big, than winning the play-offs was very big. It is something special and it means a lot to me. When we entered the play-offs, our only goal was to win the last game of the season and we did it. Our guys did tremendous job and in the final we played one of our best games.”

Derby were led by Rishi Kakad’s 29 points with Martyn Gayle adding 22.

Box score.

Notes

Highlight of the game goes to Ousman Krubally for this insane one handed take off.
In the semi-finals, Leopards beat Leicester Warriors 82-71 (box score), whilst Derby beat Bristol Academy Flyers 74-55 (box score).
Derby’s Troy Whittington has ridiculous bunnies. The dunks he was throwing down in warm-ups were too nice.
England Basketball were on point with their digital communications over the course of the weekend – social media updates, instant game reports and even the odd Youtube video. Great to see.
Vernon Teel finished the season averaging 25.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game, whilst picking up three MVP awards. Pretty solid rookie season.
Prospect watch: Derby’s Rema Lascelles (1992 born) finished with 4 points and 8 assists in the final, whilst Josh Guddemi (1994 born) had 2 points in 2 minutes. For Leopards, Josh Steel (1997 born!) started, going scoreless in 16 minutes, Zak Wells (1993 born) had 3 points before fouling out in 18 minutes of play, whilst Dominic Norton (1994 born) was scoreless in 14 minutes.
Really great atmosphere throughout the final and both semi-finals.

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