Thunder seal place in the play-offs

Thunder finished seventh in the table and will now travel on Saturday to the league’s runners-up, Derby Trailblazers, in the quarter-finals.

While the scoreline suggests a comfortable win at bottom-of-the-table Newham, it was anything but for Worthing as they came up against a scrappy but incredibly hard-working Newham side, who had only five players.

Those five players took the game to Thunder throughout, but the hosts’ predictable demise was complete when they were reduced to four players after a player fouled out with more than three minutes left. That allowed Worthing to go on a 13-0 run to seal the game and a place in the post-season.

Milton Chavis led the way with 28 points and nine rebounds for Thunder, Hank Rivers added 24 points and 16 rebounds, while Louis Allen hit 12 points, all of them three-pointers.

Thunder coach Daniel Hildreth said: “At the end of the day, the win was what we came here for and we did that. I said to the guys that Newham might only have five guys but they will fight and compete until the final buzzer and they did. They are a team that scraps, plays in complete chaos but it works for them and they have beaten some great teams this season.

“I’m glad we have the win that we needed, though, and we will be ready for the play-offs for sure.”