Worthing Thunder suffer first defeat after long weekend on the road

Alex Owumi. Picture courtesy of Graham Hodges

A hard-fought 89-75 win at Bradford Dragons on Saturday was followed with a 77-67 defeat to Solent Kestrels in Eastleigh on Sunday.

Unfortunately for Worthing, the combination of Sunday’s game in Eastleigh tipping off at 12:30pm alongside arriving back from Yorkshire just after 2am seemed to play its part.

Thunder were clearly fatigued against Kestrels, especially in the fourth quarter, resulting in Worthing shooting just 34 percent from the field.

Solent also played a double-header, like Worthing this weekend, but both games were at home.

Brendan Okoronkwo led Worthing with 15 points, with Alex Owumi adding 14.

Worthing though began the weekend with the second win in a matter of weeks against Bradford.

Following on from last Sunday’s National Cup win over the Dragons, the return fixture in the league was certainly every bit as physical as last week’s encounter.

Worthing edged ahead 22-18 after the first quarter and stormed clear in the second, turning a four-point advantage into a 50-30 cushion.

Bradford made a game of it late on, and with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, they narrowed the gap to 75-72, but led by Owumi, Thunder finished strong to collect the win.

Owumi finished with 25 points, along with 10 rebounds. Zaire Taylor led all scorers for the winners with 29 points.