In a tight encounter, Thunder's late 17-4 run proved decisive. Worthing's Latvian centre Janis Ivanovskis scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in an excellent performance by the BBL newcomers.

After a tight first half, with a number of lead changes, Thunder went in 48-46 ahead.

The second half followed a similar pattern, as first Cheshire had a run, and then Thunder replied. Cheshire's main run came with a 21-4 burst midway through the third quarter to see them take the largest lead of the game, 69-59.

Thunder came straight back, and Daniel Hildreth's three-pointer saw them go 77-74 up early in the fourth.

Although Cheshire took the lead back again at 87-80, Cheshire turned the ball over five times in the last two minutes as Thunder retook the lead, before Ryan Patton calmly drained three out of four free throws to seal the win.

Thunder coach Gary Smith was delighted after the game, and said: "Tonight, we showed everyone what Worthing Thunder is about.

"We played well as a unit. Everyone who came on had their role, and did what they were asked.

"Although Janis was fantastic, he couldn't have won the game on his own. He, Jonathan Woods and Lijah Perkins did a fantastic job defensively on their experienced big men - getting them out of their stride and making them do things they didn't want to.

"Although Chez Marks got 32 points, no one else form Cheshire got more than 10 as we effectively shut the rest of them down, and the credit for that goes to our guards.

"Our heads never went down. We kept fighting, and got the W we deserved."

Scorers, Thunder – Ivanovskis 27 (13 rebounds), Bargeman 19, Woods 18 (10 rebounds), Patton 17, Wardrope 8, Perkins 3 (10 rebounds), Hildreth 3, Midgley 2, Jordan 0, Brame 0, Berry, Burns DNP.

Jets – Marks 32, Steggall 10, Myers 10, Gayle 10, Evans 9, Duppa 6, Virgil 5, Davis 5, Hamilton 4, Brandreth DNP.


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