Worthing Thunder got back to their winning ways with a highly entertaining and exciting 81 – 77 victory over visiting Derby Trailblazers at Worthing Leisure Centre on Saturday evening.
In a match which swung wildly between the two teams Thunder were ahead by as many as 20 points in the second quarter but a spirited third period fight-back saw Derby ahead by five points early in the fourth quarter. The visitors maintained this lead tight up until the last dramatic one minute and 11 seconds of the match when they were ahead by 4 points. However in a nail-biting conclusion in front of a wildly enthusiastic home crowd Thunder regained control of the game; first with a three-point score from Barkers of Tarring Man-of-The match Cameron Hildreth (which saw Thunder pull back to within one point) and then subsequently with a further score from behind the arc from Alex Owumi to put Thunder two points ahead and effectively seal the match for the home team. The last few seconds were played out with Derby fouling to regain possession and two free throws on the buzzer scored by Owumi made the score look more comfortable than it felt for the home fans!
Top scorers for Thunder were Zaire Taylor (21 points); Alex Owumi (20 points); Cameron Hildreth (19 points); Tom Ward (15 points) ; Kayne King (4 points); Ishmael Fontaine (2 points)
A full match report is to follow later.
Thunder are next in action in the National Cup on Sunday 3rdNovember against Ipswich Tomcats at the earlier tip off time of 5pm.