It took 16 attempts, but Taunton Tigers finally recorded our first league victory of the season this past Sunday as we defeated Cardiff Celts 68 – 63. With Celts' continuing court problems, the game was switched to Tigers' Wellsprings Leisure Centre — the seventh home venue the Welsh side have used this season.
If our statistician, Sue Nicholls, would have told me that the Tigers would shoot 3 for 23 from three point range (13%) and a further abysmal 34% from the field while Cardiff shot 49% from the floor for the game, I would have wondered how we could possibly have won. A further look at the stats showed the Celts out-rebounded us 40 – 29. More bad news. However, the Tigers brought a determined and never-say-quit defense that would not be denied no matter what the circumstances were on the offensive end of the floor. Tigers defense created 22 steals and 35 turnonvers – both astonishing numbers that clearly indicated the level of defensive pressure applied to the Celts. Tigers defense wore down and ultimately broke the Celts by the end of the game.
Celts led 21 – 18 at the first break, but Tigers finished the half with an indomitable sequence of steals and finishes to lead 32 – 35 at half-time. Cardiff took advantage of their halftime break to fight back and take a 50 – 48 lead going into the final quarter. All the hard work, though, that the Tigers invested in the first 3 quarters paid off for us in those last 10 minutes. We outscored (13 – 20) and outworked a tired Cardiff team to push through a 63 – 68 victory. The supportive Tigers home crowd were instrumental in infusing our guys with energy throughout the game.
Nine Tiger players contributed to the Tigers scoring column while Mike Gregory (21 points) and Tony Berry (15 points, 21 rebs) led the way for Cardiff.
Against Derby on Sunday, we will look to build on our defensive commitment, and, hopefully, improve our patience and precision on offense. We also look for our great fans to continue to be the best and loudest ‘6th man’ in the league.