Heat - Thunder Round 3

The Heat take on the Thunder for the third time this season in a crucial game which both teams need to win if they have ambitions to make the end of seaon play-offs.

The two teams jostling for the eighth and final Play-off spot meet on Sunday, as Guildford Heat host Worthing Thunder for the second time in three meetings this season. The Heat already have the all-important head-to-head record, as they have beaten the South Coast club on two occasions; 78-71 back on Saturday 1st November 2009, and then 101-104 just last Saturday, meaning that revenge will be firmly in the minds of the coaching staff and players at the Thunder.

Worthing's assistant coach, Alan Sweetman-Hicks, commented: 'Guildford was a game that we will look at as "one that got away". We led for most of the match and had opportunities to open up a double-digit lead that we thought might break the game open, but the Heat refused to give up and then in the fourth quarter Julius Joseph found his range from three point land and the players on the floor did not respond accordingly.'

Heat player-coach Chad McKnight scored a game high 31 points last weekend against the Thunder, a performance that earned him his place as the highest scorer in the BBL Team of the Week, and Sweetman-Hicks explained the foul situation which meant that his team had a smaller line up on the floor that was desirable: 'We were hampered throughout by our big men being in foul trouble: Janis Ivanovskis and Sam Cricelli both had three fouls in the first half and Kadiri Richard two, so we had to have a smaller line up on the floor than we would have liked and Chad McKnight took full advantage.'

Whilst the Thunder look for their first win against the Heat, as well as some valuable BBL Championship points, McKnight's side will be keen not to slip up, as they have come out on top in all nine encounters between the clubs, since Worthing joined the BBL from EBL Division one last season. McKnight said he has no doubt that his side are capable of a third success against the Thunder. He commented: 'I think we will match up well, we have beaten them twice so we just have to come out and play hard. I think we played well last time, we didn’t play a lot of defence but we played as a team and played well down the stretch, which keeps us on track to make the Play-offs'