Worthing Thunder served up another thriller for the home fans to keep their NBL Conference campaign firmly on course with an 86-83 win over Manchester Magic yesterday.
Third-placed Thunder saw off their visitors in a tense finale having trailed by three points with two minutes 28 seconds to play.
Skipper Gaylon Moore came up with six late points and Daniel Hildreth added a free throw before Nick O'Harabe failed with two shots from the line which would have settled the contest.
That gave Magic 12 seconds in which to tie the scores and they argued Jacob Molina was fouled by Hildreth as he put up his potential match-saving three point attempt.
The visitors were in serious foul trouble so would have struggled in overtime but Thunder were still more than happy to settle it in regulation.
Fans were treated to video footage of the previous week's Trophy classic against Plymouth as they arrived at the Leisure Centre.
This was not such a memorable contest, but it was still captivating stuff as Thunder were forced to come from behind to clinch a sixth successive win.
They trailed by 11 points late in the second quarter but had pulled that back to 49-43 at the interval.
This after the visitors had recovered from an early Worthing blast including three threes by Lavoris Jerry to sneak a 26-25 advantage at the first interval.
Jerry's dunk topped off an 8-0 opening to the second half by Thunder to wipe out arrears and there was precious little between the sides from then on as the contest headed to its frantic finish.
Worthing Thunder: Moore 28, Jerry 22, Addy 10, Hildreth 9, O'Harabe 8, Malik 8, Brame 1.
Manchester Magic: Gayle 23, Molina 16, Mulgrave 15, Haase 11, Nuriyev 11, Charalambous 4, Shaw 3.
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