Taunton Tigers 1st team provided another thrilling game of basketball in their 2nd leg National Trophy game at Coventry last Saturday to put them clear at the top of Pool 3 and continue their undefeated start to the season. The match proved to be a battle the entire time and five extra minutes were needed for a winner to be determined.
The Tigers took a 4 point lead at the end of the 1st and built that to 6 points by half time. The third quarter proved to be dominated by the Crusaders, led by Danso with a game high 30, as they out scored the Tigers 17 to 10.
You can watch the full game video here or View it on Vimeo. The match report continues below.
The Tigers battled back to take an 8 point lead early in the fourth quarter only to see it disappear with a 13 – 0 run by the Crusaders to take a 5 point lead with 1 minute left. The Tigers then got two big free throws from leading scorer Paul Yabsley followed by a defensive stop. In the ensuing play the Tigers gathered the rebound on a big miss from Edden and came away with the clock running down and needing a three pointer to force the game into overtime. They found their big shot specialist, Joe Andrews on the right wing as time expired who was able to knock down the game tying three with a Crusaders player running to challenge his shot.
As overtime commenced the Crusaders again put the pressure on, with Olinger and Danso looking to dominate the extra period. The Crusaders built an 8 point lead with 3 minutes to go and still lead by 6 point with 55 seconds remaining after two free throws by Samuel. The Tigers then pushed hard getting a big 3 pointer from Page and turned on a full court press. Kev Anderson got a steal and a lay-up followed by another steal and lay-up, this time by none other than Joe Andrews. With the Tigers now up by 1 point the Crusaders pulled out all the stops. However, Danso missed a potential match winning shot as the clock was running down.
After the game Tigers Head Coach summed-up as follows,
“The Crusaders deserve a lot of credit. Scott (Neely) had them well prepared for this game. By the start of the 2nd quarter we had to throw our game plan out the window and adapt to their physical defensive intensity.”
“We have yet to be able to systematically sustain or lengthen a lead, which is worrying. On the other hand, it seemed like no matter how bad things got at the end of regulation and at the end of overtime, our guys never lost focus or determination. Even down 6 points with under a minute to go, we all believed we would find a way. Once again it was our collective defensive effort throughout the entire game that gave us the chance to make something happen at the end.”