Taft ventured north today for the rematch of last week’s well-played game with the Bears. The Rhinos started right where they left off last Wednesday and jumped out to an early 10-point lead before the Bears awoke from their midwinter sleep and began to score. Unfortunately, the Taft squad was not going to relinquish their lead; in fact, they left for the locker room with a 14-point lead, 43 to 29. It was by far the Bears’ worst defensive effort.  

The second half play was more indicative of Berkshire play as they climbed back into the game inch by inch, closing the gap to a 57-53 score with under two minutes to play.   Eric Samuel then made a steal, went coast to coast, exploded to the basket for a dunk with a Taft player hot in pursuit, only to have the ball slip from his hand. The back rimmed miss bounced high and backwards, basically leading to a Taft fast break and score, 59 to 53, from which the team did not recover. It was a great game with lots of positive play; the bottom line: the ten-point deficit from the first three minutes of the game was the lethal blow. But there’s no time to ponder too long on this game; the team heads east to the Kinne Court in Suffield (Coach’s cousin) for a Saturday night game against a tough Suffield Tiger Squad.

Ahmad Reid continued his onslaught on the hoop with 25 points which included three three-pointers; Barrett Ramsay had 13 with two threes; Chris McCormick had 12; Charlie Dillon and Eric Samuel both added four.