Thunder advance into last four of National Cup

WORTHING Thunder Basketball Club advanced into the semi-finals of the National Cup with a 91-80 victory over rivals Reading Rockets on Sunday evening.
James Cambronne in action for Worthing Thunder during their National Cup quarter-final win at home to Reading Rockets on SundayJames Cambronne in action for Worthing Thunder during their National Cup quarter-final win at home to Reading Rockets on Sunday
James Cambronne in action for Worthing Thunder during their National Cup quarter-final win at home to Reading Rockets on Sunday

Thunder did not look back after ending the first half with a 13-1 run to lead 45-35 at half-time and will now travel to division-lower Loughborough Student Riders in the last four.

The Thunder players only arrived back at Worthing Leisure Centre at 2.20am on Sunday morning – after losing away to Manchester Magic on Saturday evening – but there was little sign of fatigue or tiredness against a Reading side, who had not played the previous night.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a back-and-forth opening quarter, Reading led 20-18 at the end of the first ten minutes but Thunder gradually took control as the second stanza reached its conclusion.

Josh Brown, Louis Allen and Tom Ward all sank three-pointers as Worthing finished the first half with a 13-1 run.

Thunder continued to find their range from distance in the third period – which lasted just over half-an-hour – as they sank five three-pointers in the quarter to open up a 71-57 advantage with ten minutes to play.

The hosts’ lead increased to 18 points early in the final quarter as Reading failed to register a point for the opening three minutes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Reading closed the deficit in the closing stages with a full court press but Thunder remained calm under pressure and sealed their win from the free-throw line.

Ward led Thunder with 28 points, while Allen (16), Brendan Okoronkwo (13), Brown (11), James Cambronne (11) and Jack Sunderland (ten) also sank double figures.

Thunder coach Daniel Hildreth said: “The crazy thing in sport is hindsight. In hindsight, the best possible outcome for us was the manner in which we lost the game to Manchester.

“That gave us the encouragement and gave us the motivation to come out and put things right today.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“You could see that today, looking at the spread of the scoresheet with six guys in double figures, our shout all day was together. That’s both ends of the floor and defensively it was the best we’d played for a while.”

Thunder MVP Cambronne said: “Doing well with the team feels great and there’s nothing better than that and I thought it was a great win today.

“It was a long trip last night and the best thing to do is keep a positive mindset and we did what we were supposed to do today.”

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

Related topics: