A dreadful second quarter cost Worthing Thunder dearly, as they fell 85-72 to Bradford Dragons on Saturday night.

It has been a miserable start to 2012 for Worthing, with only one victory in their first five games of the new year, after seven straight victories to end 2011. Despite glimpses of promise in the third quarter, when Thunder went on an 8-0 run, Bradford maintained control, and were always in command, leading from tip-to-buzzer in what was a generally scrappy encounter where both teams committed 42 turnovers in total.

Liam Mitchell led Thunder’s scoring with 16 points, followed by 14 points each from Hank Rivers and Marcus Tullis. Courtney Small added 13, but they all know that things need to change if they are to land a top four finish, which would give them a home-seed in the playoffs.

“We just need to up our intensity right now,” Tullis admitted. “Right now teams are coming here and getting wins because they want it more, and we need to pick up our intensity, credit to Bradford tonight, they came here and played their hearts out. They deserve this, and we are not playing good enough basketball right now.”

Mitchell added: “We’re giving the ball up far too easily and basically we’re not playing as a team. Coach had us in the locker room for a long time after the game and some home truths came out in the locker room. We’re on a bad run, but there’s still belief that we can turn this around,”

Adam Martin started in place of a late-running Hank Rivers and contributed well in his first senior start: “It felt good to be called into the starting five and there were no nerves and I didn’t feel out of place, I just wanted to play and help the team out in any way I could,” Martin said.

For Bradford, Robert Edmunds led all scorers with 29 points, as he torched the hosts all evening, playing the full 40 minutes.

Martin was handed a starting five debut, but it was the visitors that started the brighter, Edmunds scoring the first five points of the game as Bradford were beating Thunder to every loose ball to start.

Worthing narrowed the gap early to 9-8 with a bucket inside from Marcus Tullis, but Dragons extended that gap again to four points this time thanks to a tip from Chris McGrew (14-10).  Bradford kept their advantage at the end of the first quarter, despite the growing amount of turnovers from both teams, Bradford led 18-15.

Bradford’s lead ballooned in the second, thanks to an 11-0 run mid-way through. Worthing turning the ball over on three trips during that run, as an Edmunds-led run gave the Dragons a 37-21 lead with four minutes left in the period.

Rivers snapped that run with a bucket inside, but Denis Scott quickly replied at the other end, as the visitors seemed to be a few steps ahead of Thunder, who were rattled, shots were not dropping and Bradford were rampant, as they enjoyed a 42-25 lead at the half.

Francesco Amato scored the opening bucket of the second half with a tip in off a miss from Rivers which was answered back with a pair of free-throws from Bradford big man Christopher McGrew, as the third started with both teams trading buckets.

Dragons though extended their lead further thanks to another 11-0 run, led by Edmunds, who hit four points in quick succession and Michal Ciesla, who scored the last five points of that run as Thunder found themselves 62-37 down and with no hope.

After the timeout, Worthing got a second wind. Jack Sunderland came in for his first appearance of the night, and like he did last week against Leopards, gave Thunder that new lease of life, as he forced Bradford into a few mistakes which led to easy buckets at the other end. The hosts all of a sudden were full of intensity, replying to Bradford’s surge with an 8-0 burst themselves leaving the Dragons coach to call his troops in to talk things over. The gap was still well into double-digits (62-45), but Thunder had a glimmer of promise.

The third quarter ended with Worthing trailing 68-51. A big fourth period was needed, but the gap was narrowed after that 8-0 run.

Bradford though regrouped starting the final quarter with a 6-0 run as Thunder’s earlier run was cancelled out. Rivers snapped that streak with a tip-in and a score from Sunderland brought the deficit down to 19 (76-57), but the gap was too much for the hosts. Three of Thunder’s under-18 team came onto court for the final two minutes, Joe Carter dished to Mitchell for a wide open three in the final minute, but Bradford had the ball last and saw-out the final ten seconds.

“It was great that the juniors came on towards the end, it’s nice that this team has a local feel to it, but we need results, it’s our priority now,” Mitchell said.

Tullis added: “Their point guard (Edmunds) killed us tonight, he was a blur. This was an indication that we really miss Vinnie, but at the same time, our junior guys are playing well and doing what they can. Their effort cannot be questioned right now, but for us starters, we got work to do in training this week.”