After a hectic pre–season off the court Taunton Tigers Men were desperate to start the season. After an intensive pre–season everyone was eager, a little nervous but ready for this National Shield Round 1 match.
Taunton Tigers started strongly with Kevin Anderson and Mike Sebire dominating defensively leaving guards Dan Howe and Alastair Bird to score with relative, allowing the Tigers to end the 1st quarter leading 22–9.
Gloster came out stronger in the 2nd quarter but could not compete against the Tigers even with Coach Gary Carter rotating his bench giving everyone valuable minutes early on.
The Tigers started the 2nd half leading 40–21 but struggled to keep up their intensity against a weak opposition. Carter continued to rotate his players and with Joe Saunders scoring a couple of big 3 pointers, Gloster were kept at bay. Rookie Shaun Holmes added some much needed energy which saw Tigers end the quarter 59–32 up. In the 4th quarter Taunton controlled the game but were unable to score freely. With Rich Nelsey and Mark Schroeder stopping Gloster scoring inside all players gained much needed match playing minutes and experience which resulted in a comfortable win.
There will be much harder opponents in the forthcoming matches but this was an encouraging start. Coach Carter was pleased with the win but knows that his team have a lot more to prove. One chance for them to do this will be next weekend when they face Division 3 team Plymouth Marjons in the National Cup at Wellsprings Leisure Centre — 3pm tip–off.