After the huge win in the league the previous day, Tigers rounded off an excellent weekend on Sunday by booking a place in the quarter finals of the National Shield. Joe Randall led all scorers with 29 points in superb offensive performance in which Taunton drained 11 3-point shots and fell just short of their second century of the weekend.
Tigers started the game where they left off on Saturday, showing no signs of fatigue after their long away trip. Behind scores from Rich Anderson, Harry Turner, Adam Rickwood and Dan Howe they raced out to an 11-2 lead. Solent weren't intimidated, though, and managed to tie the game up at 20-20 with some high energy fast-break play. A highly entertaining period ended with Turner hitting a buzzer beater to leave the home side edging it 27 – 23.
It was in the 2nd quarter that Tigers really stamped their authority on the game. Solent had the better of the early exchanges and pushed themselves into the lead for the only time in the match (29 –31). But then, Joe Randall stepped up and showed what an outstanding outside shooter he is. Sharp, incisive ball movement by the team created good looks for him and he punished the opposition with 18 points in the period, 12 of them from beyond the arc. Joe Mills also weighed in with 6 points in a 30 – 16 run which gave the Tigers 12 point lead at the half.
The visitors showed good spirit after the break and managed to close the gap to 5 points (70 – 65). Tigers were struggling to recapture the offensive fluency of the first half, as Solent increased their defensive intensity. The experienced Adam Rickwood hit 7 points in the final minutes of the 3rd quarter, though, to help push his side back out to 11 points ahead.
Tigers eased to a comfortable victory in the final period. Their reward is a home quarter-final tie against Newham (NASSA) Neptunes. That game will take place during the weekend of 11th December.
Leading Tigers Scorers: Joe Randall 29, Adam Rickwood 17, Harry Turner 14, Dan Howe 14.