Worthing Thunder showed a great performance and beat Leicester Warriors 85-75 at the Worthing Leisure Center. The 10-point-difference victory was the perfect way for The Thunders finish the season in the National Basketball League.
Even though Worthing beat Leicester, Thunder finished one place below the Warriors, in tenth place both with a record of 10-16. The only thing separating these two teams in the standings was the Warriors victory over Worthing Thunder in January (100-81) and thank to the larger margin Leicester left in a higher position.
The victory was third in a row for Worthing Thunder, and despite missing out on the ninth, the coach Daniel Hildreth should be happy that his team finished the season in style, with the best possible performance.
“Winning three games in a row and winning four of our last five matches with that loss to Lancashire only being by two points is a testament to the guys, who despite not qualifying for the Playoffs, never gave up and wanted to make an impression until the very last game until the end of the season and not fade away. Tonight was fantastic showing and a great way to end the season. Credit to Leicester Warriors who were really short-handed but we really wanted to finish the season on a high and we did that,” Daniel Hildreth said after the match, with a smile on his face.
James Cambronne of Thunder was the best on the court and finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds, supported by 15 points, scored by Josh Brown and 12 by Tom Ward.
Leon Henry showed a great performance for Leicester, finishing with 22 points, off the bench.
Thunder were so motivated, that with just under six minutes of the quarter played, a slam by Ward handed Worthing their first solid lead of the game at 20-10.
Leicester Warriors then held the hosts to just three points in the last four minutes of the first period, but a three-pointer from James Cambronne ensured a comfortable lead for Worthing of 23-14.
Exactly because of Leon Henry and Theo Rothstein, Leicester Warriors managed to narrow the gap to single digits on several occasions in the second period, but they were unable to hold the enthusiastic Thunder’s players. However, Worthing controlled the game and the crucial moment was when Louis Allen scored a three-pointer, making the difference of 34-20. At the half time, the host maintained their lead to 43-30.
After the break, Worthing Thunder had a lead of 68-48, which grew to 70-48 in the very first minutes of the 4th quarter, thanks to a Tomas Sedukis’ slam.
At both ends, Leicester didn’t give up until the final siren and made the match more interesting, but the time until the end wasn’t enough for something more than melting hosts’ lead to 10 points.