BASKETBALL: Thunder target another shock victory

WORTHING THUNDER need to summon character and nerve to notch a second successive shock at the Leisure Centre on Saturday (7pm). With crowds on the upcurve, and the reverberations of the defeat of champions Newcastle still ringing around the arena, here comes another supreme test.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Dec 2009, 12:26 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:58 BST

Leicester Riders, who beat leaders Sheffield in the BBL Cup semi-final last weekend, represent another tall order to scale with the help of the sixth man '“ the fans.

Thunder may need midweek tuition as toreadors and to play in red. Into the ring comes a bull. Taurean Minor, Leicester's point-guard is a major BBL force, wreaking damage everywhere, second in the league's scoring (25 points a game) and top in assists (8pg).

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What he does not savage, Brad Wierzbicki licks up (18 ppg) with Adam Williams (47 per cent of his three-pointers shot). Riders head the league in scoring (96ppg; Worthing are eighth with 84), also field goal scoring, and lie second in three-point shooting.

What can Thunder do? It's simple to head man Dave Titmuss: "Riders are another running team so it's about containment. We don't want to give them the same open court we gave Glasgow Rocks last weekend.

"Tack (Minor] can break you down. He can have an average match and still end up with 30 points. We must continue learning from each previous game."

In opposition, Thunder have the BBL leading shot blocker and fourth-top rebounder in Kadiri Richard (2.1bpg & 9.4rbg) while Sam Cricelli is a top-20 rebounder. But on the backboards for Leicester rage Jason Johnson with 10.8 rebounds, leading the league, Shaun Durant with nine, and in blocking, La Taryl Williams is third with 1.3pg and Johnson ninth with 0.9.

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The glass is going to shudder. But the roof will rise if Riders are cup-hungover and Thunder upset again.

Worthing got no second victory over Glasgow Rocks on Saturday. Having flown on the morning from Luton, they were soundly beaten 103-85.

Trailing by 10 points after a quarter set a medium Scottish mountain to climb.

Rocks, strengthened by new signing, the 6ft 5in Michael Crowell, on the perimeter, gunned them down and ran them around. Glasgow front the league in three-point shooting tally and strike rate, in field goal percentage, and are second in free-throw efficiency. Guards Rob Yanders and Jesse Sapp dished 10 assists apiece.

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Statistically, Thunder evaporated like Scotch mist behind Reggie Bratton's game-leading 31 points and nine rebounds. And they shot only three of 17 three-pointers to Rocks' 11 of 25.

Titmuss commented: "We dug ourselves a hole with the things we did in offence that set off their fast-breaks. We were positioning ourselves too deep and after that it was tough to come back against a strong offensive team. We got it back to nine points with three minutes to go but then lapsed."

ROCKS 103: *Sapp 26pts 5rb 10ass, *Copeland 19pts 9rb 3blk, *Yanders 18pts 4rb 10ass, Crowell 18pts (3-4 4-6 0-0), *Davis 9pts 3stl, Parillon 7pts.

THUNDER 85: *Bratton 31pts (9-14 1-8 10-10) 9rb, *Makalainen 19pts (3-7 1-3 10-11) 4rb 2ass, *Prezzie-Blue 13pts (5-7 1-3 0-0) 3stl, *Richard 8pts 6rb 3blk, *Cricelli 8pts, Marrast 4pts 3rb, Midgley 2pts, Hildreth 0pts, Brame 0pts, Zafirov 0pts. DNP: Mitchell.

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BBL (P W-L Pts): 1 Sheffield 16 13-3 26, 2 Newcastle 15 11-4 22, 3 M. Keynes 15 10-5 20, 4 Cheshire 14 9-5 18, 5 Leicester 14 8-6 16, 6 Glasgow 11 7-4 14, 7= Everton & Guildford 13 7-6 14, 9 Thunder 15 6-9 12, 10 Worcester 11 3-8 6, 11 Essex 13 3-10 6, 12 London 14 3-11 6, 13 Plymouth 12 1-11 2.

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