Following a win in the National Cup against Swindon Shock two weeks previously (87 – 69) Tigers were keen to get a good start to league competition.

Stealers found themselves out-gunned on the night with Tigers shooting extremely well from range. Mark Schroeder and Alex Potter set the pace for Taunton, both hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the early minutes.

The excellent start for Tigers was maintained when Chris Bryant hit from outside followed by Mikolaj Makowski going on a scoring run (11 points) to close out the quarter, including two 3-pointers of his own.

Oxford were left with a large deficit at the end of the first, as the quarter ended 30 – 19 in favour of the home team. The scoring settled down in the remaining quarters but the Stealers were unable to recover from the early onslaught.

Tigers were able to rotate their bench regularly with the whole team getting good amounts of court time. Stealers at times showed what they were capable of with good patience and decision making on offense. They were not able to maintain it for more than a few plays at a time however and would revert to errors and turnovers. Taunton took advantage of Oxford’s mistakes, running their fast break well.

Alex Potter was Tigers best player on the night, showing good maturity and composure. Shooting well from outside and making timely drives inside when the defense tried to pressure him. He finished with 31 points, including five 3-pointers. Asked about the game he said:

It was a good performance. Our younger players stepped up and shot the ball well. We’ve got work to do on our defense and need to improve our help but overall a good team win.

The match ended Tigers 87 – 66 Stealers. Makowski finished with 15 points and Bryant with 11 for Tigers whilst Stealers top scorers were B. Tompson with 17, J. Higgins 13 and M.Ohanlon 9.