Thunder back together again

Barker (Tarring) Thunder are top of EBL division one and looking to remain in charge when they host City of Sheffield Arrows (8pm).

Thunder have Jon Woods and Rani Malik back after they missed last week's win at Kings Lynn for family reasons.

Nick Oharabe played in that game but tonight's match is his first at home since suffering a car accident before Christmas.

Coach Gary Smith knows Arrows offer a good indication of where Thunder stand.

He said: "Sheffield are a tough team but we know what they are capable of.

"This game will be a tough test and show us where we are."

Thunder have a 9-2 record but Sheffield (7-3) are not far behind in sixth while Reading are still unbeaten in fifth having played jujst seven games.

Meanwhile, in the States, Andy Smith had a season-high 15 points and added six rebounds to help his college score a convincing win.

Bentley beat American International College 93-78 in Northeast-10 Conference action.

Smith, the junior forward from Littlehampton, had 22 minutes off the bench and made four of his five field goal attempts, going one-for-two from three-point range.

He hit six free throws from ten attempts.

Richard Midgley hit a hot streak from three-point range but it could not save division one California from a disappointing home defeat.

Cal went down 72-64 to Oregon State in the Pac-10 Conference before 8,956 bemused home fans.

Midgley hit three threes in a row at one stage but finished with a modest four-for-12 for his 12 points.

Cal were playing away to Stanford in the early hours of this morning.

Sam Mead's newly-formed division three outfit Lesley Lynx have lost their first two games in the North Atlantic Conference.

They have a 3-5 record overall with Mead getting limited minutes off the bench in his first year of American college basketball.

The former Worthing Thunder guard has averaged seven-and-a-half minutes and 1.25 points per game in his eight outings to date.