University sport: Storm clouds gather for Thunder basketball team

The men’s basketball team suffered another heavy loss, falling 72-36 at home to St Mary’s. Jacob Green was the only player to score in double-digits as he notched ten points.

A fourth straight defeat leaves player-manager John Fisher pondering how the Thunder can recover their season as they languish rock bottom of the league.

St Mary’s made their presence on the court felt within the opening minute when their small forward drove into the paint and threw down a powerful dunk that had the visitors’ bench on their feet roaring.

They started to pull away from Chichester, showcasing their talent with some impressive athleticism and cunning close to the hoop that the hosts just couldn’t defend against.

St Mary’s began the second quarter like they ended the first, causing the Thunder serious problems with their drives towards the interior. The home crowd let out a roar when Henry Pang showed incredible defensive acumen to leap across and block a layup that would have put St Mary’s 20 points ahead with only 13 minutes played.

St Mary’s closed out the quarter with a 15-2 run that saw them up by 33 at half-time.

After the break, it became apparent luck just wasn’t with Chichester and hot attacking threats such as Green and Darren Sam saw their shots just fail to drop. Sam, who has been one of the few bright sparks for the Thunder so far, finished on only six points.

Chichester played their best basketball of the game in the third quarter and began to heat up from long range as Seb Galardo landed the Thunder’s first three-pointer after nine previous attempts by the team.

Pang sank a corner to take his personal tally to five points. However, that was as good as it got for the home side as St Mary’s then closed out the game to seal their away victory.

Chi’s men’s rugby ones drew 13-13 away to Imperial (Medics). Matt Hunt scored two penalties and one conversion after Ciaran Mohr got Chichester’s sole try. The home side might have won it late on but Chichester stopped a driving maul on the five-metre line just before the final whistle.

The Chi men’s badminton team picked up a point at home to Surrey twos in a 4-4 draw, Chi’s women’s hockey ones lost 3-1 against Sussex and the men’s hockey ones beat Sussex 7-1.

In football there were heavy defeats for men’s football ones, who lost ground on league leaders East London with a 5-1 defeat at Brighton and Surrey fours beat the sixes 8-2.

Chi’s men’s lacrosse beat Kingston 6-5 in a close encounter but men’s volleyball lost in straight sets away to Kent.

In netball the ones lost agonisingly 44-43 to Brighton, the twos were beaten 20-16 by their Brighton counterparts, the threes won 62-28 at home to Royal Holloway, the fours lost 72-29 to Portsmouth and the fives lost by two in a tight 28-26 home game with St Mary’s.