Tigers Men picked up their first league win of the campaign with a comfortable victory against a Leopards side forced to kit up coach Jon Burnell as their eighth man. It was the Tigers who roared ahead in the first five minutes to secure a 13 – 4 lead; however, Leopards fought back with Ronnie Baker draining a three and Leigh Greenan converting a 3–point play in a 9 – 0 run taking London into a 14 – 13 lead with 7:42 on the clock.
You can watch the full game video here or View it on Vimeo. The match report continues below.
Some strong inside work by Page enabled Taunton to edge ahead 21 – 16, and increase his personal tally to eight points before the first break. The visitors hadn't been helped by guard Carl Latham–Henry being called for three offensive fouls in a first period where he saw only seven minutes of action, and the Leopards' play–maker eventually fouled out with the unenviable record of collecting five fouls without being called for a defensive infringement.
The start of the second saw Sean Clifford come to the fore with a pair of threes in a 10 – 2 run by Tigers before the visitors again came back strongly with Latham–Henry, Jonny Wright and Marlan Henry featuring in a 12 – 2 run to get within three points of the home team. Taunton held their nerve and weathered the storm, responding by closing the quarter 47 – 38 ahead.
After the half–way break Tigers continued to press ahead and increased their lead to 17 points, thanks to an opening three from Joe Andrews, a strong inside bucket from Chris Page, and another three followed by an inside jump shot from Sean Clifford.
Six points from Page and Yabsley notched up a 20 point lead with two minutes remaining in the quarter. Despite a long ranger from Tim Clifford being immediately negated by one from London's Ronnie Baker, Leopards reduced the deficit by three after netting three out of four from the line before the final break.
The final session saw Tigers determined to maintain their lead despite back–to–back three pointers from Chris Michaelides. With the game effectively over seven minutes from time, Burnell played out the rest of the game as Leopards finished with Greenan and Sam Richardson joining Latham–Henry on the bench after fouling out, and Michaelides on four fouls.
Tigers calmly kept control in the final minute with Tim Clifford draining another 3 to close the game out with a comfortable 91 – 69 win. Clifford led all scorers with 22 for Tigers, with Page and Yabsley each adding 19. Greenan led the Big Cats with 21 points, with Baker adding 12 and Michaelides ten.
After the game Tigers coach Tom Kambouris commented,
“London didn't come full strength tonight. Despite that, any team needs to execute to beat their opposition by a 22–point margin. We did that. Our guys never let Leopards feel they were getting back into the game. That was a big step forward for us.”