Manchester Magic visit – but it’s Worthing Thunder who produce the tricks

On paper this looked like being a comfortable victory for high-flying Thunder but after the previous mauling by the Reading Rockets nothing was out of the question.

It did prove an easy victory in the end as Thunder recaptured their form.

The first half was one-way traffic as Thunder piled on the pressure in complete control.

It was a case of Groundhog Day as the first and second quarters were an exact copy of each other.

Taking both periods 25-12 gave Thunder a very healthy lead of 50-24 at the halfway stage.

Hafeez Abdul and Tom Ward were outstanding, leading all scorers and generally controlling the game. With every player who had been on court scoring, it was a true team performance for the big home crowd to enjoy.

Thunder continued to play fast attacking basketball as the under-pressure Manchester side struggled to stay with them.

Another 29 points piled into the hoop and at the final break it was Thunder who were giving a masterclass to the weary visitors.

Again Abdul was leading the scorers with David Moya hitting two big treys early in the period on his way to 12 third quarter points.

With the score at 79-39 at the final break the game as a competitive fixture was over.

The final quarter saw Thunder introducing the bench and a memorable moment saw Thunder’s youngest player Clayton Wright hit a big three-pointer on his way to his season-best seven points.

He had hit 27 points in the earlier game for Thunder’s Division 3 side so this shows what is to come from him.

Moya, Ronald Blain and Andre Arrisol continued to run the game and at the final buzzer the score of 94-58 was perhaps a little kind to the gallant Manchester team. The crowd showed their pleasure giving the players a massive ovation to send everyone home happy.

Thunder have two matches this week: away at Essex Rebels on Saturday (6.30pm) then home to Thames Valley Cavaliers on Sunday (5pm).