Tigers topped 100 points for the second time in two days when they travelled to Sheffield to take on bottom of the table Arrows. In the process they picked up their fifth win in a row.
You can watch the full game video here or View it on Vimeo. The match report continues below.
This match wasn't as straight forward as the final score suggests, though. The home side had much the better of a high tempo first quarter and led by 33 – 20 at the first break. The opening exchanges had been fairly even but, from 14 – 16, Sheffield upped the pace and went on a 19 – 6 run to open up a healthy lead.
Tigers turned the tables in the second period, though. Despite being 13 points down, the players kept their cool, focused on the task in hand and began to stamp their influence on the game. While the defence tightened up, nine Taunton players scored in the quarter, to reduce the deficit to just 1 point (52 – 51) at the half-way point.
Both teams struggled to seize the initiative when the second half got under way. Defences were on top and neither side was ahead by more than 3 points before the final two minutes of the third quarter. Tigers restricted their opponents to just 13 points in the period, though, and moved out to a 65 – 71 lead at the close.
Taunton then led from start to finish in the fourth quarter and, despite being pegged back to as little as 4 points at one stage, slowly but surely opened up a 19 point lead and finally closed out the game to win by 17.
Chris Page led the way on scoring with 27 points and also put in an impressive display on the boards in grabbing 21 rebounds. Following on from his shooting display the previous evening, Simon Kearney added three more 3-pointers (of Taunton's six on the night).
The victory improves Taunton's record to 12 wins and 8 defeats and puts them in 5th place in the league. With two games left in the regular season, they still have an outside chance of a top-four finish which would give them a home game in the play-offs.
After the game, Tom Kambouris put the win down to his side's collective strength,
“We were impressed with Sheffield's intensity out of the blocks. To our guys' credit we didn't panic and stuck to our game plan. To have six players in double figures and a seventh with eight points was indicative of what a truly team effort this was, in our bid for a good play-off position.”
Next Saturday in the last home game of the regular season they entertain local rivals Bristol Academy Flyers (tip-off 6.30pm at Wellsprings). This should be an enthralling contest as Tigers lost by a single point when the teams met in Bristol earlier in the season.