When this season started, the newly formed under 14 team had no idea whether it could be competitive at national league level. Following this thriller on Sunday, they now know that they're one of the best 8 teams in this age group in the country.
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The Tigers season came to an end on Saturday, but with 5 minutes to go they looked to be on the verge of causing a major upset. Having finished 8th in the league (and in the last play-off spot) they always knew that a trip to face a Derby side which completed the regular season in 1st place was going to be a huge test. And so it proved, but they gave the favourites a real scare.
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Tigers finished their regular season schedule with a loss at London Mets. With results elsewhere also going against them, the defeat saw Taunton slip from 5th to 8th in the league table. Although they finished on the same number of points as both the Mets and Reading Rockets, an inferior record against both sides in the head-to-head games means they finish behind them. They now face a tough assignment in the play-offs on Sunday as they travel to new league champions Derby Trailblazers.
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A capacity crowd at Wellsprings in excess of 350 saw Tigers fail to make it six wins in a row in the men's Division 1 of the National League when losing to local rivals Bristol Flyers in their last home game of the season.
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Tigers topped 100 points for the second time in two days when they travelled to Sheffield to take on bottom of the table Arrows. In the process they picked up their fifth win in a row.
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After securing their runners-up medals in the South-west/Midlands conference, Taunton's Women ended their winning streak with a heavy defeat away in the quarter finals of the National Play-offs.
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Having secured a place in the Division 1 Play-offs the previous week, Taunton Tigers were looking to consolidate that position and bid for a home draw in their double header games last weekend. They did so in no uncertain style with a pair of emphatic wins by scoring over a hundred points in each game.
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Taunton Tigers are hitting a rich vein of form just at the right time. On Sunday they won their third straight game and, in doing so, became the first team this season to complete the league double over a very strong Manchester Magic side.
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The big top of the table clash was ruined as a contest by serious injuries to two of Tigers' leading players. Both Ben Hayes and Jon Orrells had to leave the game with what looked like nasty ankle injuries. Hayes' injury was particularly damaging in the context of the match, as it was just a few minutes old when, having driven to the basket, he fell awkwardly and was immediately clearly out of the game. In the third quarter, Orrells limped out of the game in very similar circumstances. When Kester Duncan was carried off with a knee problem in the fourth quarter, the side of the court began to look more like a scene from M*A*S*H than a basketball hall.
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Tigers' second team finished their first season in the National League in 4th place in Division 4, after this battling defeat. Taunton got off to a good start and were ahead 16 – 9 at the first break, before the Pirates scored 31 points in the second quarter to take a 34 – 40 lead. Tigers fought back excellently after the break and were ahead again (55 – 52) going into the final period. It was Bognor who finished the game stronger, though, and pulled away to victory. Final Score 71 – 81. Leading Tigers Scorers: Alastair Bird 25, Joe Saunders 22, Glyn Davies 9.
Taunton Tigers Women extended their winning streak to 7 games to take them to the top of the South-West/Midlands conference of National Division 2 and ensure one of the 8 spots in the National Play-offs.
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Coach Matt Nolan took the opportunity to see what some of the younger players in the squad could do against an equally young Cornwall side, in the second match of the afternoon. They showed that they could dominate a game at this level and, if they had displayed a little bit more composure when in good scoring positions, the final score would have been even more convincing than it was.
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Tigers got off to a sluggish start in this match against strong opposition from Dorset. A win would have set up a probable league title decider against Plymouth next week, but defeat leaves them needing to win one of their last two games to ensure they finish in second place and so, have a home draw in the play-offs.
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“This part of the season is about getting our mindset and execution ready for the play-offs, and really understanding our team roles and objectives. If we do that we can beat anybody in the league.” — That was the forward-looking message from Tigers' head coach, Tom Kambouris, after he had just seen his team claim another very impressive away victory.
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Six straight wins have taken Taunton Women to 2nd place in the Midlands/South conference of the National Division 2 and sets up a play-off decider with UWIC away this week.
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It was a strong first half-performance from the Tigers that set up this victory against the visitors from the Channel Islands. The opening exchanges were pretty even and the score stood at 12 – 10 to Taunton before, behind 11 points in the period from Chris Mullan, they charged away to a 30 – 15 lead at the break. The second quarter began very scrappily but Tigers again had the better of the later stages.
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Tigers scored 100 points for the first time in the league this season and, in doing so, easily saw off the challenge of the visiting Sheffield Arrows. The win moves them up into 7th in the league, comfortably in the play-off places.
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The Tigers' women march on towards the National Division 2 Play-Offs following their comfortable 60 – 41 win over Plymouth. It wasn't all plain sailing though as Plymouth threatened to end the Taunton's winning streak with a spirited performance.
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Tigers Men's second team had a tough day away at Division 4 leaders, Team Solent. Having been down by 15 at the half (44 – 29), Taunton played their way back into contention by outscoring the home side 28 – 20 in the 3rd quarter. However, Solent showed their quality by hitting 30 4th quarter points to secure the win 71 – 94. Leading Tigers Scorers: Dan Howe 25, Joe Randall 15, Joe Mills 12
Tigers pulled out this excellent win with a great effort in the final period – Final score 61 – 49. The game had been a tight one throughout and Taunton were just behind at 42 – 43 at the end of the 3rd quarter. A great defensive effort, though, restricted Brixton to just 6 points in the 4th quarter.
Tigers overcame an early scare and went on to win this one with ease 71 – 36. A stuttering offence mean that Taunton were 8 – 16 down at the end of the first quarter, but they then got into their stride, behind 21 points from Louis Ubaka. Salisbury only managed 8 second half points as Tigers turned up the pressure. Leading Tigers Scorers: Louis Ubaka 21, Matt Thomas 10, Jon Orrells 9
Taunton were desperately hoping to bounce back from the previous day's disappointment when they took on Reading Rockets on Sunday. Unfortunately, the exertions of the fast-paced encounter with Leeds seemed to have taken their toll, and Tigers struggled to find any offensive fluency.
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On Saturday, Tigers started a tough double-headed weekend of home matches by taking on Leeds Carnegie, who were in second place in the league going into the game. Taunton got off to an excellent start with Chris Page dominating the early exchanges. Showing his versatility, Page scored from outside the 3-point arc and with right-hand and left-hand lay-ups, in picking up 14 first quarter points.
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Taunton Tigers Women maintained their improvement, upsetting top of the table Bristol Storm to move into fourth place and within sight of the play-offs in the National Division 2 conference.
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The Tigers players and coaching staff will still be scratching their heads wondering how they let this vital match slip. Having been down by as many as 24 points just before half-time, it was to their massive credit that they should have won the game, but a stutter right at the end cost them dearly.
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Tigers set-off on their trip to Coventry in optimistic mood, following the previous week's away win over London Leopards. Having already beaten the Crusaders twice in their two National Trophy games early in the season and in the home league match back in November, Taunton were the pre-game favourites.
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Tigers boys kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the play-offs with this excellent win against league leaders Bristol Academy Flyers. The game was competitive throughout but Tigers pulled away in the third quarter opening a 10 point lead. Tigers held their nerve in a closely fought final period and won by 7. Final Score Taunton Tigers 62 – 55 Bristol Academy Flyers.
Tigers showed their strength of character to dig out this vital victory, after having looked, at one stage, as though they had thrown away a comfortable win.
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Tigers U18s came extremely close to victory against a very strong London United outfit. Going into the final quarter Taunton were leading 62 – 55, but 30 points from the home side were enough to turn the game around. Final Score 75 – 85.
Resurgent Tigers Women maintained their play-off hopes with a comfortable 48 – 31 victory over Bristol Academy Flyers. It was sweet revenge against their local rivals after suffering a 40 – 50 home loss earlier in the season.
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Tigers kept themselves in the race for a play-off spot with this convincing win against bottom of the league Cougars.
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This clash of the Tigers went Torbay's way on Saturday. Although the match was tight throughout, the home side just edged each of the four quarters to give them victory. Final Score 61 – 47.
In their previous encounter this season, Tigers had beaten Stroud by just 3 points, so this 23 point victory shows just how far they have progressed. Although, again, the full squad played a part, it was Tigers' more experienced players who led the way. Jon Orrells showed his strength and skill in amassing 26 points, and Dom Hinchliffe put in another captain's performance on the way to 23. Tigers Scorers: Jon Orrells 26, Dom Hinchliffe 23, Spencer Gormley 4, Rob Macintyre 2, Adam Hood 1
On Saturday Tigers grabbed the chance to go clear at the top of the table with two emphatic wins from their trip to Team Gloster's home court. In the first game Coach, Matt Nolan, gave the younger players in his squad some valuable court time and they proved that they can take control of a match when needed. Such was their domination that they did not allow Team Gloster any points at all in either the second or third quarters. Meanwhile, the Taunton boys shared the scoring between them, with Spencer Gormley putting in a particularly impressive performance for his 12 points. Tigers Scorers: Spencer Gormley 12, Adam Hood 12, Dom Hinchliffe 11, Ben Hayes 9, Kester Duncan 8, Jon Orrells 4, Bradley King 2, Nathan Webb 2, Jack Penny 2
Tigers climbed to 4th in the table with this comfortable away win against local rivals Bristol Storm. In a relatively low-scoring encounter, the contributions of Joe Mills (who led all scorers in the game with 19 points) and Joe Saunders (17) were vital.
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League leaders, Derby Trailblazers, are the form team in Division 1 at the moment, having won their previous 6 matches in the run up to this game. So, Tigers had a good idea what to expect, but they couldn't have anticipated the devastating opening onslaught which saw them fall 15 – 0 behind in just over 3 minutes.
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Tigers Men's 1sts have served up some great entertainment for their fans this season, and this was another match which had the large crowd guessing right until the end. After two close defeats last week, the side was clearly determined not to let another game slip through their fingers, but against a very physical London Mets side they were made to fight all the way.
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Tigers' women restarted their season and kept their play-off hopes alive with a fabulous 44 – 40 win against league leaders Birmingham Force in National Division 2. Newly appointed Head Coach, Ronnie Heath was delighted with the all-round team performance and encouraged his team to use this victory a launch pad for the rest of the season.
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A fantastic day's basketball at Wellsprings Leisure Centre on Saturday began with this excellent victory for the Men's second team. Despite some skillful offence, neither side could establish a clear advantage in the first quarter. The experienced Tigers team managed to impose their game on the visitors in the second period, though. Bath were restricted to just 14 points, while scores from Dan Howe, Alastair Bird, Matt Nolan and Joe Saunders helped Tigers ease out to an 8 point half-time advantage (47 – 39).
Taunton were pegged back in the second half to set up a tense finish. Inside the final minute Tigers led by a comfortable 84 – 78 but the visitors made it unexpectedly interesting by outscoring their opponents 5 – 1 in the final 30 seconds. Final Score: 85 – 83. Leading Tigers Scorers: Alastair Bird 17, Dan Howe 13.
Louis Ubaka led Tigers boys superbly with a 21 point personal haul, but it wasn't enough to overcome a strong Marjon side. Early in the second half Taunton were right in the game trailing by just 36 – 32, but the home side then grabbed the initiative with 13 unanswered points. Tigers did manage to get the gap down to 10 points again at one stage, but the damage had been done. Final Score 71 – 51.
Tigers got off to a flying start against Trophy holders, Reading, on Sunday but ultimately went down to another agonizing loss.
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No-one who saw this game will forget it in a hurry. It had it all: skill, commitment, and an incredible dramatic ending. With Tigers in second place in the league (with a record of 7 wins and just 1 defeat) up against the undefeated league leaders from Plymouth, great things were expected and all the players delivered on that expectation.
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In the first game of the afternoon, Tigers great team play took them to a comfortable win against the visitors from Bristol. Dom Hinchliffe led the scoring with 21 points and six other players got on the score sheet. It was also good to see Bradley King back on the court after the serious ankle injury which had kept him out of action before Christmas.
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Matches between these two local rivals always seem to be amazingly close. Already this season, Tigers had beaten Flyers by 1 point (in the National Trophy) and the National Cup game between the two sides went Bristol's way by 2 points. So, it was no surprise that this turned out to be another nail-biter.
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Coach, Gary Carter was pleased that his team had managed to perform so well after the Christmas break, “We looked a bit rusty in the first half, but that was out of the system by the second and we had a much better rhythm. We can now push on for the rest of the season, starting next week with a massive home game against Bath.”
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Tigers dominated the visitors from Stroud at both ends of the court at the Richard Huish Sports Dome on Saturday. Sharks were limited to just 6 first quarter points, and Taunton led 35 – 17 at the half. That lead grew steadily in the second half and the gap was an impressive 31 points by the end (72 – 41). Tigers' Louis Ubaka led all scorers with 23 points.
Taunton Tigers had a perfect weekend as their trip to the north saw them pick up two wins against sides at opposite ends of the table. On Saturday they shocked Division One leaders Manchester Magic with a 97 – 89 victory (stats), while the following day they won 88 – 70 at Tees Valley Mohawks.
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Read the Tees Valley Match Report Here and view the Game Statistics Here.
Defences were definitely on top in this closely fought clash at Wellsprings last Saturday. Things started brightly enough for the Tigers. Three successful close range shots from Chris Page and 5 early points from Richard Anderson helped them to race out to a 15 – 8 lead, mid-way through the first quarter. Leicester were struggling to make their shots, but there were danger signs in that they were picking up second chance opportunities with the effectiveness of their offensive rebounding.
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Taunton Tigers Women completed their second win in 2 weeks when they defeated Guernsey in a pulsating and close game of basketball on Guernsey's adopted home court of Southampton.
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In front of a season high 269 crowd at Wellsprings LC, Taunton knew that they'd have a tough battle as they hosted reigning Division 1 Champions and National Cup holders, Reading Rockets. And so it proved, as an impressive all round display gave Reading a comfortable victory.
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