Gary Smith today set his sights on play-off glory as Worthing Thunder celebrated the greatest triumph in their short history.

Barker (Tarring) Thunder clinched the EBL regular season title in thrilling style by winning 93-89 at outgoing champions City of Sheffield Arrows.

And that sparked scenes of delight, and feelings of relief, for a club who have finished as runners-up or losing finalists seven times since being formed in 1999.

Thunder's run of 14 wins to take the title was completed when they saw off the last team to beat them, helped by 22 points from Jon Woods, 20 apiece by Steve Gayle and Alfredo Ott and 16 by Steve Vear.

Smith, who coached Thunder to their only previous honour, the National Trophy in 2004, has been there through all the heartbreak and said: "It's just nice to get this one.

"We've had disappointment, we've had near misses but you build from those, you know what you want.

"Now we've still got a fairly young team but a team who have got experience.

"I am looking to the play-offs and the future.

"We've got a good bunch of guys. They are a special unit and I would like to persevere with them.

"Sheffield have beaten us the last three or four times. They beat us on our home court in January. That shows the character we have in this team.

"Now the biggest thing is to stay focused and win the playoffs."

As well as Saturday's top scorers, Thunder's stars also include ever-improving young centre Pat Bates, long-serving James Brame and bench men like Ciaran Burns, Rany Malik and Okolie Ugbana.

Assistant coaches Chris Mayes and Alan Sweetman-Hicks guided the team through some crucial wins when Smith was away getting married recently.

EBL teams are restricted to two Americans and Thunder have got big contributions from Woods, their power forward from Chicago, and Ott, a livewire guard.

Ott, who arrived in England without his basketball shoes after fleeing his native New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck, said: "I've already made a couple of calls home to tell people about this.

"It was close the whole way but we came together as a team. Everybody put their two cents in.

"Since Christmas we've found out the way each other plays and we have really come together.

"We feel really good right now."

Thunder led 44-39 at halftime but the hosts were level within 11 seconds thanks to a Noah Brown three-pointer as he was fouled.

Brown missed the free throw but Tucker Cain rebounded and added a put-back.

Sheffield led until the second minute of the final period but Thunder then went on a decisive 13-1 run.

Ott made sure of victory with two free throws 30 seconds from the end.