Worthing Thunder cruised to a conclusive 37 point victory at Nottingham Hoods on Sunday maintaining their presence in the top 5 of the league.
This was a commanding performance by Thunder and although both sides were slow to start, it was the home side which opened the scoring after two and a half minutes and again they lead at 6-4 after four and a half minutes. These were the only advantages that the Hoods enjoyed in the entire match. The home side were then on the wrong end of an onslaught by the visitors late in the first quarter from which the Hoods would never recover as Thunder took the game by the scruff of the neck and ended ahead 31 – 13 at the break.
It was more of the same as the second period progressed with Thunder winning the quarter 29-13 and heading into the locker room with a 34 point lead. Although the Hoods performed valiantly in third quarter, Thunder continued to impose their superiority winning the period 32 to 26 and finishing ahead with a match-winning 40 point lead with still 10 minutes to play.
With such an advantage under their belt the visitors continued to rotate their squad allowing all of their players some heathy minutes on court resulting in 9 out of the 10 players contributing to the final 111-74 victory. Recent signings AJ Basi and Dominic Ives – who hit his first double–double for the club – (12 points and 10 rebounds) both turned in impressive performances.
After slipping up on the road at Thames Valley Cavaliers and subsequently strengthening their squad Thunder have now two away victories under their belt and this will no doubt give the team some confidence when visiting a strong second-placed Hemel Storm next Saturday.
Thunder scorers:- Zaire Taylor (21 points); Cameron Hildreth (21 points); Alex Owumi (17 points); AJ Basi (14 points); Tom Ward (13 points); Dominic Ives (12 points); Nick Ballone (7 points); Oberon Lacroix (4 points); Josh Goddard (2 points)