With both teams looking to improve on their joint placing in the league, this was always going to be a tough contest. The long road trip to Yorkshire made it even more demanding for Tigers. Despite this, Taunton started strongly and ended the first quarter 18 – 21 ahead.
You can watch the full game video here or View it on Vimeo. The match report continues below.
Early in the second, Leeds capitalized on some sloppy play by the visitors which enabled them to take the lead, but successive 3 pointers by Alistair Bird and Tim Clifford evened the game at 29 – 29 midway through the period. The lead then changed several times before Tigers again edged ahead by 2 points to go into the locker room 37 – 39 up.
At the restart, the lead was immediately stolen back by the home side with successive shots from outside the arc. This situation was compounded for the visitors by having several of their inside shots blocked by Leeds' big import players. With two more shots being drained from outside, Carnegie opened-up a 7 point lead with 3 minutes remaining in the quarter. Some determined play after a time-out called by Tigers' coach, saw them claw back the deficit to 2 points at 59 – 57 before the final break.
Another 3 at the start of the final session from Tim Clifford, followed by a score from a strong rebound by Chris Page, restored a 3 point lead for Tigers. Leeds then went on an 11 – 2 run to gain a 6 point advantage, but a positive response by Taunton saw them get back to within a single point with 3 minute of the game remaining. Sadly, their further efforts to chase the game only had the reverse effect and they conceded more points, resulting in them losing a hard fought game 87 – 73.