Tigers Men's Division 4 team made the long journey down to Chichester to play against the University team which has close links with the BBL club, Worthing Thunder. With some key personnel missing from action this was a fantastic opportunity for players to stake a claim for the games leading up to Christmas.
The game proved to be a scrappy, frustrating affair that was well managed by the officials.
In the first half, Tigers achieved one of their key defensive objectives in limiting the opportunities for Chichester's best player, Bud Johnston. At the midway break the scoreboard indicated that Taunton were winning by 2 but, by the start of the third quarter, the book said differently and Taunton were, officially, down by 33 – 31.
The game remained tight, and ebbed and flowed in the second half. Tigers were clearly playing the playing the better team basketball and led by 4 points going into the final quarter. Unfortunately they were also keeping Chichester in the game by turning the ball over too many times, thus stopping their own offensive flow. This caught up with them in the last period and the game eventually finished 83 – 79 in favour of Chichester. Johnston finished with 37 points.
Tigers were led by their captain, Joe Saunders (31 points), who had his best game of the season so far, and he received great support from Glyn Davies who was bravely playing with a swollen elbow.
After the game Team Manager, PJ Carter, said,
“It was a frustrating loss for the team today, but the players will have learnt many lessons and, as a group, we'll keep on learning and evolving together.”