Worthing Thunder slipped to a 94-90 home defeat to the Brixton Topcats, ending a run of seven straight victories.

Vinnie Darpino scored a game-high 28 points, Marcus Tullis and Hank Rivers both hit 19 points, the latter also grabbing 17 rebounds. 

It was a sub-par Worthing performance, clearly feeling the effects of the extended Christmas break. They committed 28 turnovers, which included one with 4.2 seconds remaining when Marcus Knight stripped the ball off Courtney Small and scored in transition. That bucket was the final score of the night.

This defeat was also James Brame’s first this season as a coach, as he filled in again for Gary Smith who is still recovering from an illness.

“It was a heartbraking loss but in honesty, we were just not up to the challenge,” coach James Brame said afterwards.

Brame added: “We’ve not played a competitive game in nearly three weeks and Brixton are a team you don’t want to play when you’ve had time off. Credit to Brixton who came out, played with so much heart and determination, they never gave up and won by any means necessary. Marcus Knight killed us, a veteran player who knows how to win.

“This was a big loss for us tonight; the league is normally determined by just one loss. We now have three so we really have to pick up ourselves up.”

For Darpino, who was the focus of Brixton’s attention in the fourth, he was extremely frustrated with how the game went: “It was as physical a game as you’ll ever see or play in, no doubt that was tough,” he said.

“It was annoying how it finished though, we didn’t see the game out and gave the ball up too cheaply at times. Definitely can do much, much better.” 

Thunder was slow to begin proceedings, as they were held scoreless for the first two-and-a-half minutes of play. In that time Tom Adorian converted for Brixton as they took an early 4-0 lead.  Worthing opened their account with a pair of foul shots from Darpino. Courtney Small levelled things up with a tough transition lay-up.

Both sides traded buckets for the majority of the first as the visitors gained the upper hand on the rebounding stat-line. With three minutes left of the first, it was Brixton who gained the advantage thanks to buckets Karolis Petkus, who hit a running floater and further buckets from veteran Marcus Knight gave Topcats a 24-16 lead after the first ten minutes.

Petkus started the second quarter with a three to extend the visitors’ lead to 11 (27-16), which Darpino cancelled out with a three of his own. Liam Mitchell brought the score back to single-figures after Samuel Toluwase hit from three with a clean strip off Marcus Knight which he connected for the easy lay-up.

Despite a comeback from the hosts as the second, Brixton kept their lead intact at half-time (47-44).

Worthing would take the lead in the early stages of the third period, thanks to back-to-back buckets from Small and Tullis, which gave the hosts a 48-47 lead with just over a minute played in the third. 

Thunder then broke the game open during the mid-way point of the third with a 7-0 run, inspired by Darpino who hit four points in that two minute surge. The run was cancelled out with a two-hand dunk from Adorian. Worthing led 57-52 with 5.21 left.

Brixton pulled it back to 64-63 off back-to-back buckets from Arturo Noha-Pasqual (three-pointer) and Knight, Brixton were making life hard for Worthing with intense defence inside as Thunder’s big men struggled to find a way through for the majority of the period.

Darpino was unstoppable as he blasted 12 third quarter points to help Thunder to a 74-67 lead, only to be thwarted by Knight, who was single-handedly pulling Brixton back into it, he scored five quick points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer to narrow Worthing’s lead to 74-72 headed to the final stanza.

Noha-Pascual tied the game at 74 to start the final ten minutes. Thunder again tried creating a cushion as buckets by Rivers and Small gave the hosts a 79-74 advantage in the early stages of the fourth.

It was a tense, yet sloppy final period. Both teams were turning it over and not being as accurate with their passes as expected. Buckets were being traded. A bucket inside from Tullis kept Thunder’s lead intact at 83-80 with 5.03 left.

A big turning point came when Tullis fouled out with just less than four minutes to play and the game tied at 87. Thunder was over the foul limit, meaning that Brixton were taking trips to the free-throw line if fouled.

Wisely, Topcats took advantage of this and attacked the basket at every given opportunity. A bucket from Samuel Toluwase gave Brixton a 91-89 lead with a minute left. 

They kept that lead for good, as Small got the ball and had it stripped from him by Knight who scored.

Notes: Worthing Thunder’s fans were treated to new seating at the Leisure Centre for the first time tonight. 640 was the attendance, the highest for this season.

Ex-Thunder forward Janis Ivanovskis was in attendance as well. Ivanovskis was part of Worthing’s league and playoff winning team in the 2006/07 season. The Latvian also played for Thunder in their 2008/09 and 2009/2010 BBL seasons.