After a hard-fought match the night before and an early start to travel the 260 miles to Bradford it was unsurprising that Worthing Thunder were not at their best and suffered a 8 point defeat at the hands of Bradford Dragons on Sunday.
Thunder and the Dragons were pretty much evenly matched throughout the first two periods of the game; the home side winning the first quarter by just 2 points (20-18) and Thunder responding in the second period out-playing their hosts by a single point (24-23). As the teams went into the locker room it was anybody’s game but as often seems to have been the case, Thunder’s third period “blues” saw the home side extend their half time lead to 9 points (69-60) as the session ended.
It was always going to be a tough ask for Thunder to fight back from that position and although they closed the game back to three points with 6 minutes to go, that was the nearest that they could get with the home side holding out for a well earnt victory.
Thunder scorers: AJ Basi (21 points); Alex Owumi (16 points and 12 rebounds); Tom Ward (16 points); Zaire Taylor (14 points); Cameron Hildreth (7 points); Dominic Ives (6 points); Ishmael Fontaine (3 points)
Thunder now find themselves in fifth position in the league and their next home match is on Saturday 1st February at Worthing Leisure Centre tip – off 7.30pm. Their opponents will be fourth-placed Thames Valley Cavaliers who Thunder will need to defeat in order to maintain their challenge for a home berth in the post season play-offs.