Thunder are ready to roll into Wembley, just two years after Worthing's love affair with basketball seemed to be over.

The NBL Conference side born from the ashes of the departed Bears gave the Leisure Centre at Durrington a taste of the old glory nights by powering into the play-off final with a 100-81 win over the Teeside Mohawks.

Needing to win by seven points for an aggregate semi-final win, they demolished arch rivals Teesside by 19 on the back of a superb second quarter, which at one stage them outscore their bewildered visitors 19-2.

The times when it was standing room only to see the likes of Alan Cunningham and Colin Irish are long gone.

But the above average crowd of almost 500 were knowledgeable and noisy and celebrated wildly as their team set up a showdown with league winners Plymouth.

Gary Smith knows what it means to Worthing. The popular player/coach was on the Bears staff during those heady Championship days.

He admitted: "It's a great feeling. It probably won't sink in until next week.

"We are the best team in the league but we know we haven't been playing up to our capabilities. Plymouth aren't ready for us. Our guys can all score. Now we're in the big picture at Wembley these guys' game is going to go so high.

"This is a hell of a fine team. We could perform in the BBL."

Wembley was slipping away when Thunder trailed by 21 in the first leg. They clawed back to 92-86 by the end but had a slow start to Saturday's return meeting as Teesside jumped out to an early eight-point lead.

Mohawks were six up midway through the second quarter.

Then the quicksilver skills of 5ft. 9in. guard Paul Munday-Castle inspired that decisive Thunder run which sent them 49-38 up at the break. It was a lead they never looked like losing.

Munday-Castle is top scorer in the Conference and his latest haul saw him shoot 60 per cent from two-point range plus 17 out of 19 free throws.

Smith said: "Hell of a player, isn't he? He's the leading scorer in the league and he is English.

"But how can a player like him get into a higher league when their benches are full of Americans?"

Thunder got full value from their imports Vandale Thomas and Gaylon Moore. Moore's tally included ten out of 12 from the floor. He also pulled down 17 rebounds and blocked ten shots.

A late rally helped Ralph Bucci to 29 but Smith was delighted with his side's defensive job on Teesside's main threat.

Victory in the final would cap quite a success story for a team born when five Bears fans decided to keep basketball in Worthing alive by taking over struggling Stevenage Rebels.

They changed the nickname to avoid a clash with Worthing's football team and aimed for modest but attainable goals.

One of the five founders, Alan Dawes, said: "When the Bears moved we thought the people here had been loyal supporters for years and should not be left with nothing.

"We paid a few thousand to get the franchise here but it wasn't megabucks. Financially this is much lower key than the BBL.

"It's an £80,000 salary cap but most teams don't spend more than 30 grand and that's the sort of level we are probably at.

"We couldn't go into the BBL but we would not want to anyway. We are happy competing for honours at this level."

They will be even happier if Smith's men can turn on the magic in the final.

Thunder: Paul Mundy-Castle 32, Vandale Thomas 28, Gaylon Moore 26, Cory McGee 9, Clive Harriott 3, Okolie Duro-Ugbana 2.

Mohawks: Ralph Bucci 29, Dennis Ley 24, Jason Swaine 11, Corey Jackson 7, Neil Hopper 4, Jon Stonebridge 2, Steve Butler 2, Nick O'Hara-Be 2.

l International basketball comes to the Triangle in Burgess Hill next Saturday (7.30) when England's women take on Holland.