Leopards are licked!

THUNDER captain Steve Vear broke his own team record with 16 assists as well as 16 points on Saturday when Thunder tipped off their league title defence with a 45-point statement of intent against opposition one import light.

By The Newsroom

Published 25th Oct 2006, 17:14 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:48 BST

Point-guard Vear's points included four of the seven three-point shots he attempted and his numbers might have been even more glitzy but for four turnovers '” although he amply silenced any complaint about them.

His 11 first-quarter points, with three threes '” the second on the 24-second shot-clock buzzer '” and the high tempo he set, left Leopards gasping for breath at 25-19 down after 10 minutes.

He pipped his two 6ft 7in forwards to the night's top plaudits. Latvian Janis Ivanovskis had 22 points (it would have been 24 but for flunking an unopposed fast-break dunk) plus 17 rebounds while his partner under the backboard, American rookie Hank Rivers, took 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Big guard Dan Midgley, watched by brother Richard, England's presently injured outstanding US college star, had 10 rebounds but was a point shy of a fourth Thunder statistical double double.

For full report, see this week's Worthing Herald.

American England