Despite mounting a late surge, the Medway Park Crusaders were unable to overcome a very strong Worthing Thunder side on Sunday evening.

Report by Nick Moore

The National League Division One tie, which finished 87-82, saw some strong individual performances from both sides, and had the audience on the edge of its seats until the final buzzer.

The game saw the South coast’s American import, Vinnie Darpino, hit a game high 24 points. The 5’10 guard lead the Thunders charge, closely supported fellow American import, Hank Rivers, a 6’7 power forward – Rivers hit 18 points personal.

Kalil Irving top scored for Medway with an impressive 20 points, but even he could not stop Worthing leading from start to finish.

The Crusaders came out very flat in the first quarter and allowed the Thunder to distribute the ball and find their rhythm early on. Important buckets from guards James Harris and Luke Baker kept Medway in the game, but they trailed 19-16 at the end of the first.

Worthing continued to pile on the pressure in the second quarter, knocking down their open shots, and hitting Medway on the break. Darpino came off the bench to make a host of steals, which meant they went into half time leading 42-30.

Crusaders coach, James Vear, rallied his players at half time and after the break they responded. The third quarter was a much closer affair, as they stepped up their intensity and began to play with more desire and passion.

Worthing though, matched the Medway side’s efforts and kept their lead to double digits, taking the quarter 22-20. Their rebounding skills proved to be the difference, killing the Crusaders chances of getting second looks at the basket. Worthing lead 64-50 going into the final quarter.

The final 10 minutes saw the Crusaders mount their comeback, but they allowed the Thunder to pull out to a 19 point lead at one stage.

Coach Vear, changed all five players, and this seemed to galvanise the team onto the late surge. They went on a 10 point unanswered run and closed the gap to just nine.

With time quickly disappearing and the calls not going the Crusaders way, the Thunder managed to hold onto to the lead, closing out the game 87-82, despite a strong 32-23 final period from Medway.

Crusaders Coach, James Vear, was very disappointed with the loss. He struggled to come to terms with the defeat bearing in mind the team’s improvement in the last few matches.

He said “The team chemistry didn’t seem there at all tonight and it looked like our guys had never played together.  It’s unfortunate as we looked to have turned a real corner last week but today we didn’t show the effort and determination we did in our last game.”

The Crusaders next game sees them take on the BA London Leopards at home on Saturday, 3 December at 5pm.

The BA Leopards lost their opening three games to the Brixton Topcats, the Leicester Warriors and the Bradford Dragons, but beat league leaders, the Bristol Academy flyers 91-87 on Sunday.

They will therefore be a tough team to host, entering the forthcoming match with a lot of confidence.

However, the Crusaders could see their instrumental point guard from last year, Steve Vear, James’s younger brother, return to the squad.

Steve was key in helping to the Crusaders gain promotion to Division One and his possible comeback will inevitably boost the team’s morale as they have been struggling to find a replacement since he left.

James added: “Steve will give us that on court leadership I think we are lacking. He is also a player who tries to make everyone around him better which he did for us last season.”

Photographer: Cesar Velasco