With Dan Wardrope out injured for the weekend with a calf injury, and head coach Gary Smith unavailable, Thunder were shorthanded for their trip to Everton Tigers, but were boosted by the return of Jonathan Woods.

Thunder held their own through a close first quarter, although Tigers shaded it 23-20.

Everton extended their lead gradually through the second quarter, and went in at half time 48-36 up.

The teams exchanged baskets early in the third, but Worthing were unable to reduce the deficit and a 12-0 run by the home team gave them a 70-45 advantage, from which Thunder could not recover.

Although Worthing's heads did not drop, Josh Gross and Richard Midgley, the younger brother of Worthing forward, Dan, hit three pointers as the home side piled on the pressure in the final quarter. They won it 27-12 to make the final result 103-67.

Scorers: Thunder – Ivanovskis 22, Midgley 11, Bargeman 11, Woods 6, Patton 5, Hildreth 5, Perkins 3, Brame 2, Burns 2, Wardrope DNP.
Tigers – Gross 26, Smith 23, Midgley 22, Babalola 10, Haslam 6, Herriman 6, Nowell 2, Onoura 2, Jones 2, Popoola 2, Bailey 2.

Hampered by not getting back from Everton until 4.30am on Saturday morning, Thunder gave a tired performance on Saturday evening against Sheffield Sharks at the Leisure Centre.

It looked good early on as, although neither team scored for the first two minutes, once Janis Ivanovskis opened the scoring on a put back, Thunder started with a 9-0 run.

James Whyte opened the scoring for the Sharks in the fifth minute and scored the first 10 points for the visitors as the first quarter ended 14-10 to Thunder.

Despite back-to-back threes from former Worthing Bear Joel Burns, on his return to the Leisure Centre, Thunder re-established the nine-point lead midway through the quarter at 27-18, as Ryan Patton hit two triples himself.

This was to be Worthing's largest lead in the game, though, and Sharks chipped away at the gap to lead by one, 34-33, at the half.

Sheffield came out and stepped up their defence at the start of the third quarter and led 40-35 after four minutes, before Sherman Rivers and Chris Sanders hit four threes between them in sharing the next 20 points as the visitors built a cushion to take a 60-48 advantage into the final quarter.

After recent games at the Leisure Centre, the fans were expecting a stirring fourth quarter comeback, but it did not materialise. The closest Thunder got was at 58-67, but with point guard Ryan Patton carrying an ankle injury, that forced him out with two minutes to play, Sheffield scored the final 11 points to give a slightly flattering final scoreline.

Scorers: Thunder – Ivanovskis 17, Patton 16, Woods 14, Bargeman 10, Hildreth 5, Perkins 2, Brame 2, Midgley 0, Berry, Burns DNP.
Sharks – Whyte 25, Rivers 20, Sanders 18, Gorman 11, Burns 6, Cauthorn 4, Lawson 2, Lyons 2, Okorie 0.


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