CONVERSE Crystal Palace find themselves firmly rooted second from bottom of the Budweiser Basketball League after Sunday's defeat against adidas Greater London Leopards.

Palace held a 24-23 lead at the end of the first quarter but from then on the Leopards took control of the game, dashing the home fans' hopes with a 9-0 run in the third quarter.

Despite Brad Wedel and Eric Cardenas scoring 26 and 22 points respectively, Palace could not break down the league title holders' lead.

Palace are in 12th position, four points behind ITT L&E Worthing Bears. At the other end of the table Leopards retain their two-point cushion over Peugeot Birmingham Bullets. Birmingham, however have a game in hand and morale must be high after they completed a league series win over Exide London Towers on Sunday.

The Towers struggled to compete close to the basket but made up for that with 13 three pointers to clinch victory 80-74.

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