After a number of seasons of narrow losses, Taunton finally laid to rest their Bristol bogie when they achieved the narrowest of victories against Flyers on Sunday. Things proved to be a 'cat and mouse' low scoring affair with only a single point separating the sides at the first break, but Tigers' new signing Chris Page began to make his presence felt in the paint after coming on for the final minutes of the quarter.
You can watch the full game video here or View it on Vimeo. The match report continues below.
In the second period, Flyers increased their lead to 8 points thanks largely to a pair of threes from former Arrow Doug McLaughlin–Williams. Rickwood and Yabsley then reduced the deficit by netting threes of their own in the last couple of minutes, enabling the Tigers to just get their noses in front by the half–time break at 34 – 33.
The scores stayed very close with the lead changing hands throughout the third with 10 of Tigers 18 quarter points coming from their man of the match Page, who finished with 23 points, and the quarter ended with Taunton just two points ahead at 52 – 50
With the lead again changing hands in a low scoring first half of the final quarter, Yabsley tied the game with four minutes to go, and added a further two inside baskets and one from outside to put Tigers six points ahead with only a minute left.
However, Flyers top score McLaughlin–Williams (30 points) again pulled out the stops and tied the game 67 – 67 with another long range basket with only seconds to go. But in the dying seconds Andrews scored one from his two free throws after being fouled on his way to the basket and Tigers' defence stood firm from the restart to secure a well–earned victory and a standing ovation from the home crowd.
After the game Kambouris commented,
“Bristol have a very tall squad which presented us with several match–up challenges. Our execution at the end was good enough to get us the win, but tomorrow we will be working hard to further clean things up.”
Yabsley finished with 19 points for Tigers, while Greg Streete added the same number for the Flyers, who now stand second in the group at the midway stage of fixtures. Bristol do have the advantage of two home games to come, against Taunton and Coventry, while Tigers will travel to Crusaders in the pool's other game.