On Saturday, Tigers started a tough double-headed weekend of home matches by taking on Leeds Carnegie, who were in second place in the league going into the game.
You can watch the full game video here or View it on Vimeo. The match report continues below.
Taunton got off to an excellent start with Chris Page dominating the early exchanges. Showing his versatility, Page scored from outside the 3-point arc and with right-hand and left-hand lay-ups, in picking up 14 first quarter points. Paul Yabsley also looked in good form and he put Taunton comfortably ahead 23 – 15 with a neat inside move, late in the first period.
In the second quarter the dynamism and aggression of Leeds' play started to bring success. Taunton couldn't find a way to consistently stop strong drives to the hoop and fell to 39 – 45 down with 2 minutes left in the half. A Simon Kearney 3-point shot and 2 more from Page reduced the gap to only 1 point, before the visitors closed the half out with 5 points of their own.
At 44 – 50 going into the second half, the game was very much in the balance. Leeds put huge pressure on the home side, though, by opening the half with an impressive 2 – 10 run to make the score 46 – 60. Tigers showed their character in getting the next 7 points of the game through Kearney, Rich Anderson and Adam Rickwood, only to see Leeds put together another run (9 points) and open up a 53 – 69 lead. The quarter ended with big 3-point plays from Kearney and Sean Clifford just about keeping Tigers in the match at 59 – 69.
In the final quarter Taunton gave it their best but they just could not get on top of a very strong defence and Leeds ran out comfortable winners.