The young Tigers jumped on the accelerated learning curve when they visited National Play-off winners Worthing Thunder and returned home 71 – 110 losers in the National Trophy.
The large crowd, big screen and intimidating crowd at the ‘Thunder Dome’ seem to overwhelm the less experienced Taunton Outfit as Worthing quickly got off to a fluent 9 – 2 start. There poor start was quickly compounded with an impact injury early on to Tigers' most experienced player Nolan, who was forced to spend the evening in casualty.
Taunton rallied though and an impressive team effort created opportunities for Yabsley (20 points), Andrews (20 points) and Anderson (14 points) to show their full repertoire of moves and finishes. Although Worthing had opened up a 10 point lead by the end of the first quarter the Tigers were settling into the game and creating better opportunities at the offensive end.
Cleeve Woodford dominated inside early culminating in 2 monster dunks for Thunder's big man. However Taunton's ability to get to the basket got Woodford in foul trouble and by the half Tigers were still very much on the game at 57 – 45.
Taunton opened the second half with two quick scores to close to within 8pts but from there on in the defence of Thunder dominated the game. Small mistakes were emphatically punished by Worthing with imports Mooney and Scott really getting going at the offensive end. Mooney (18 points) outside shooting and Scotts (28 points) speed constantly stretched the Tigers. It was the ball movement of the home team however that most tested the Taunton and provided lessons for the aspiring Tigers.
It was a full 6 minutes into the fourth quarter until Taunton could create a score. It was this inability to score that allowed Worthing to stretch away with comfort in the end. Head Coach was still upbeat afterwards and looked forward to the First League game of the season at home to Manchester Magic.
“It was important that we played one of the big 3 (Worthing, Manchester or Reading) early on for the players to get a feel what is expected at the highest level. Manchester Magic will be equally difficult for us his weekend but the fans can be sure that with a team will do better again following this experience.”
Taunton expect a sell-out crowd at Wellspring this weekend against last seasons National Cup winners Manchester Magic and encourage supporters to arrive early for the 5.30pm tip-off on Saturday. Tickets on the door are 4 pounds for Adults and 2 pounds for Children.