Thunder falls short after spirited comeback

Worthing Thunder Head Coach, Brian Deacon, said his side’s hard work was “reflected in the second half fight back” as they lost 91-83 to City of Birmingham Rockets.

Thunder cut a 22-point half-time deficit to 4-points in the fourth quarter but failed to complete the comeback. Elijah Maynard top scored with 20-points.

“We just need to produce from the start,” Deacon lamented. “We started poorly, our defence letting us down, which unfortunately has been our downfall recently.”

“We’re a no-excuses team but I won’t deny that having seven new players, some arriving after the season has started, has affected the speed of our progress. But as we saw in the second half today, the guys are getting there.”

“We have a great bunch of high IQ players. We uphold the mantra UBUNTU – a South African phrase meaning ‘I am because we are’, something that will aid us in our progress throughout the season.”

That view aligned with now assistant coach Ishmael Fontaine. “Tonight, we came out slow defensively, which is unacceptable for us.”

“We showed ourselves capable of finishing defensive possessions, but our first-half effort lost us the game.”

“We’re getting better every game. We need to put 40-minutes together.”

Both sides’ off-seasons looked similar: Thunder brought in Deacon as head coach, Rockets sought the services of Charles Smith; both acquired a slew of signings during the summer and start of this campaign; both feature players, in Bode Adeluola and Martyn Gayle, who lead all-time scoring categories (Adeluola tops all-time scoring with over 4000-points and Gayle in three-point shooting), and both crashed out the KitKing Trophy after winning one match in the group stage.

The contrast, however, between their respective starts to the league season couldn’t have been starker. While Thunder struggled to two defeats against Nottingham Hoods and Derby Trailblazers, Rockets sprang into two victories against Reading Rockets and Derby Trailblazers.

The latter victory against Derby provided the litmus test for this evening. The first half showed that test had positively correlated to this match. After finding themselves 15-points adrift at the end of the first quarter, Thunder managed to bite at the hosts advantage, but they couldn’t keep it down. The reduced 10-point gap boomeranged back to 14, then to 17 before becoming 22 by the break.

That theory, of Thunder only being capable of small assaults on Rockets’ lead, was somewhat shattered in the second half. They mounted a 9-0 run at the start of the third and capitalised upon the momentum to haul themselves within seven-points as the game approached its climax.

Rockets weren’t so much building their gap as they were fighting to defend it. What may have proved pivotal was the lingering taste of victory from their opening matches; Birmingham pegged Thunder back to eight-points and, crucially, kept them there.

Thunder face Reading Rockets away on Sunday 27 October before hosting Thames Valley Cavaliers on Saturday 2 November at Worthing Leisure Centre (19:30 tip).