for 3-time national Champions Alba Fehérvár, Marek Koltun returned to Poland and long-time fan favourite Aki Fagbohun also departed. In their places, Coach Newby drafted in Armand Anebo and Dave Ajumobi from Brixton TopCats and American small forward Justin Berry, whilst promoting young Brit's Sean Clifford, Jack Stannard and Henry Wilkins to a more senior role in the roster. The young and inexperience new-look team struggled dismally to contend with their rivals and in an expanded Division 1 competition that featured 13 teams, Carnegie finished in 10th place with a 10–14 losing record – their worst since the club's establishment six years previously. British forward Ajumobi finished as the team's top scorer with an average of 15 points, in 33.2 minutes-per-game. Whilst retaining most of the key roster, new additions in the form of Yorkshire-native Rob Marsden, American Bryan Mokeski from Newman Jets and 7-foot Croatian centre Igor Sedlár shaped the roster for the 2012–13 season. Another new feature for Carnegie was the refurbishment of their Carnegie Sports Centre home venue, with the addition of extra seating and new flooring put in place for the start of the new season. Carnegie started the new campaign in the same form as their previous dismal season had ended, suffering two losses in the opening stages of the National Trophy to Bristol and local rivals Bradford Dragons. Further defeats to Team Northumbria and Reading sealed their exit at the conclusion of the group stage. However the team embarked on a far more successful run in the National Cup. Having beaten Sefton Stars 73–56 in their opening game, Carnegie went on to eliminate Bradford Dragons in the 2nd Round (61–68), Tees Valley Mohawks in the 3rd Round (87–83) and London Lituanica in the Quarter-final (66–76). In the Semi-final, Leeds were pitted as favourites against two-time National Cup finalists Worthing Thunder, who were suffering a poor run of form and a 0–8 record in their regular season. Carnegie easily disposed of Thunder in a particularly low-scoring encounter, winning 61–45, and progressed to their first-ever National Cup Final, opposite Bristol Academy Flyers who were appearing in their fourth consecutive Final in the competition. The tie, held at Ponds Forge in Sheffield, was a closely fought battle which finished with a spectacular Carnegie comeback. Trailing by a 12-point deficit in the final 180 seconds of the game, Leeds produced a 14–0 run, inspired by game MVP Henry