BASKETBALL: Thunder beat Plymouth

On Saturday, in front of more than 675 fans, plus former Thunder MVP Alfredo Ott calling in from the Spanish third division, Thunder arrested a slide of three defeats. They were elevated to a 104-101 home victory over Plymouth Raiders by the verve of Samuel Cricelli and the electrifying brilliance of Lithuanian star Evaldas Zabas. And they found a way not to lose to a Raiders team playing dangerously well.

Now, this Saturday, they must find how to beat Milton Keynes Lions, whose on-court commander EJ Harrison is the man for whom his old Reading Rockets coach, Dave Titmuss, must devise an antidote '“ if he plays. MK, striving to maintain seventh spot after going on a slither while Harrison and Frank Holmes were injured, were upset 111-107 at home by Plymouth on Monday.

But Harrison did not play and Holmes began, then withdrew early from the game.

If, like Raiders, Worthing can beat this veteran team, they can genuinely contemplate running anxious title-seeking Sheffield Sharks close for a third time this season, a week later. Thunder cannot look behind. They are hunted by Worcester Wolves for the last play-off place. Wolves have been scheduled two games this coming weekend and last, to Worthing's one, each against easier opposition.

They won 95-86 at home to Essex Pirates on Saturday and 97-74 at London Capital on Sunday.

Defence is Worthing's worry. They survive by outscoring. After victory this way over Plymouth, Sherrad Prezzie-Blue admitted: "Yes, but we are making up for it in other areas." Rebounding-wise, they are competitive, and they have an outside shooting threat, of which only Prezzie-Blue, their most productive outside the arc, showed up on the night.

Reggie Bratton, Ville Makalainen and Zabas struck only twice in a combined 10 efforts and that almost lost Thunder the game in the face of Plymouth's combined six of nine attempts, including a scorcher from Drew Lasker that brought Raiders back to 102-101 inside the last 10 seconds.

Birthday boy Alistair Gall's foul then sent Prezzie-Blue to the line, the American point-guard made both free throws and five seconds remained. Lasker's three-pointer bid to force overtime missed and although Valencia put the ball back into the basket the final bell had intervened.

Neither side, Plymouth 10-4, Thunder 59-53 and 81-75, led by more than six points. Daniel Hildreth helped Thunder stabilise after falling behind early. In the third quarter, Sam Cricelli exploded with 12 points at 60 per cent shooting '” his only scoring all game '” and as Bratton entered foul trouble, that kept Worthing's nostrils in front.

Until a Gall triple cut it to 83-82 at third-quarter close.

Then Raiders coach Gary Stronach so nearly got it right down the fourth and final furlong. He played a new hand of having all his three big men on court together '” American-Irishman Matt Hilleary (6ft 8in), Briton Anthony Rowe (6ft 8in) and Puerto Rican centre Tino Valencia (6ft 5in but playing like a 6ft 8in, and a BBL top-10 scorer and rebounder).

Zabas' astonishing 100mph trackback foiled Lasker and Rowe on a fast break but still Raiders subsequently went ahead at 88-87 and Bratton, after an open-look miss, hit four fouls. Withdrawing he, the Thunder man with most of the ball, sent Zabas rampant around the bullring. The ball repeatedly came to him and his driving to the hoop, converting and drawing fouls, confirmed all the fears about Worthing's pacy guards that had previously discouraged Stronach from risking his big trio all at once.

Prezzie-Blue and Zabas took Thunder on a 6-0 leap out to 97-92 with 1min 51sec left, yet Raiders again pegged them back to one point with a Zabas travel violation partly to blame. But how the Lithuanian atoned.

Thrillingly, he stung Raiders with a baseline drive climaxing in a reverse lay-in, a foul drawn from Anthony Martin and the resultant penalty shot, for what proved a winning 100-96 lead.

Thunder gave away the ball only 11 times. Before the game coach Titmuss had said: "Turnovers have plagued us all year and makes our defensive record look pretty bad. If you took out, say, half the points per game we've given up to our opponents' steals, right now we'd be competing for a top-four spot.

"We'll continue to work at taking care of the ball and fight with everything we've got to win our remaining games. It's got to be 'all drivers and no passengers' from here on in, if we are to pull off what would be a remarkable late-season run.

"No team in the country will be more focused, more prepared to give a supreme effort, or more willing to sweat blood for their team than the squad you'll see in each of our remaining games."

The Thunder Supporters Club hope to run a coach to Plymouth for the final regulation season game on April 18. But they urgently need fans to indicate their intentions to Dave Marshall on 01903 529241 to enable advance booking (price, an estimated 25).

Thunder v Lions on Saturday will be the Supporters Club's last chance to vote for the awards of Player of the Season and Personality of the Season. Presentations will be at Thunder v Sharks on April 17.

THUNDER 104: Zabas 25pts (8-10 in 2s, 1-4 in 3s, 6-7 in frees) 5rb 4ass, *Bratton 24pts (11-18 0-3 2-2) 5rb 2as, *Prezzie-Blue 20pts (3-4 2-3 8-9) 2rb 4ass 3stl, *Makalainen 14pts (3-5 1-4 5-5) 6rb 2ass, *Cricelli 12pts 9rb 2ass, *Richard 8pts 8rb 4blk 2stl, Ivanovskis 2pts 2rb, Hildreth 0pts 1 drawn charge. DNP: Brame, Midgley, Marrast, Mitchell.

RAIDERS 101: *Lasker 35 (8-17 4-6 7-8) 5rb 3ass 2stl, *Valencia 29pts (12-20 0-0 5-5) 11rb, *Rowe 16 (7-11 0-0 2-2) 7rb 2ass, Gall 10pts 3rb 2ass, Hilleary 4pts 4rb, *Horton 4pts 5rb 2ass, *Martin 3pts 3rb 10ass 3stl. DNP: Burchell, Marriott.

BBL (P W-L Pts): Sheffield 33 28-5 56; Newcastle 32 27-5 54; Glasgow 33 22-11 44; Leicester 33 20-13 40; Cheshire 31 19-12 38; Everton 32 17-15 34; Milton Keynes 32 16-16 32; Worthing 33 15-18 30; Worcester 32 14-18 28; Guildford 33 11-22 22; Plymouth 31 10-21 20; Essex 33 7-26 14; London 30 3-27 6.