Patrons Cup Ipswich 58 Essex Leopards 87 Ipswich suffered a heavy home defeat against National Basketball League Division Two newcomers Essex Leopards on Saturday, writes Rob Schatten.

East Anglian Daily Times: Ipswich's Collin Dockrell drives to the hoop against Essex. Picture: PAVEL KRICKAIpswich's Collin Dockrell drives to the hoop against Essex. Picture: PAVEL KRICKA (Image: Pavel.Kricka@btinternet.com)

Cameron Hawes had 18 points and Colin Dockrell added 15 for the hosts, but a sub-par shooting performance was largely responsible for John Ellis’ side being unable to keep up with their experienced visitors.

With Hawes hitting a three-pointer at the end of the first quarter, Ipswich took a 16-13 lead into the start of the second, but would score only ten points in the next ten minutes as Essex established control over the tempo of the game and built a steady 38-26 lead by half-time.

Missing two of their key performers from last week’s thriller against USA Select, Ipswich were flat in the second half and the visitors, relegated from NBL Division One last season, had enough to get comfortably over the line as they found a deadly stroke from three-point range in the second half from a number of sources.

There were positives for the Suffolk side, including the performance of veteran centre Tendai Simbai off the bench, but collectively the team struggled offensively.

East Anglian Daily Times: Ipswich head coach John Ellis speaks to his troops. Picture: PAVEL KRICKAIpswich head coach John Ellis speaks to his troops. Picture: PAVEL KRICKA (Image: Pavel.Kricka@btinternet.com)

“That’s not an acceptable performance on any level, and both the coaching staff and playing staff understand that,” said Ellis.

“We were lackadaisical with the ball, committing way too many turnovers early, and we submitted physically to a side that came here with great energy and determination to shut us down from the start.

“I appreciate that we have a lot of new faces around the team but that level of effort cannot be acceptable.

“We have a chance now to go to another strong side, Nottingham Hoods, next week and give a better account of ourselves.”

Ipswich will hope to have American forward Quan Gill available for that match-up after visa complications ruled him out of the Essex clash.

Ellis’ side are in cup action twice this weekend, playing their other Patrons Cup game at Nottingham on Saturday and travelling to Norfolk Titans in the National Cup on Sunday.

The team’s next home fixture is against Liverpool on Saturday October 14.