The Tigers U16s team had their longest road trip of the season on Saturday, away to the Guildford Heat. The long journey didn't faze the players who had another good start to the game and played hard throughout.
The 1st quarter was again excellent with Tigers playing excellent transition offence, turning steals into lay ups. Captain Sean Clifford kept the Heat defence guessing with excellent decisions on offence. Tigers won the 1st quarter 30 – 16.
The 2nd quarter started in much the same fashion with Scott Speed being on the end of good Tigers offence and converting 10 points in a row. Speed ended up having a game high 26 points. The Heat crept back into the game in the last part of the quarter with the Tigers going back to bad habits on defence. At half time the heat had closed the gap to 10 points.
Guildford started the 3rd quarter on fire with their dangerous shooters taking the score within 4 points, a tactical time out from coaches Carter and Scarborough was able to stop what could have been a very dangerous moment for the team, the whole team responded well restricting the Heat scoring. The 3rd quarter also proved the turning point mentally in the game, with 10 seconds left on the clock, the Heat called a time out to set up a scoring play. Tigers had defensive specialists Ed Surtees, Ricky Richards, Pip Anderson, George Williams, and Ed Mortimer playing against the Heats starting five, the Heats offence did not have a look at the basket.
The final quarter was won within the first four minutes with the starters fresh from the bench. Tigers then went on an 11 – 2 scoring run, this included a big 3 pointer from Joe Randall. Excellent pressure defence from guards George Freeman and George Scarbough helped set up a comfortable finish for the team. The game ended on an even bigger high with Nick Gratton converting a 3 pointer on the buzzer!
This game proved how much the team relies on its bench players, they were the difference between the teams, if the team can iron out a few mistakes at both ends then the cup match against premier team Solent Stars is going to be interesting, especially with the Tigers not having pressure on them.