Worthing Thunder kept the pressure on leaders Teesside by winning a south coast thriller in EBL divison one.

Thunder held on in a tense finale to beat Solent Stars 94-93 at a packed Fleming Park in Eastleigh.

Two late three-pointers from Mark Jackson, who hit 15 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, dragged Stars back to 94-91.

They then closed to within a point before Steve Gayle and the highly impressive Daniel Hildreth ran the clock down for Thunder.

The visitors came from an early 15-8 deficit to lead 48-45 at the half and by ten with five minutes to play.

An impressive second quarter saw nine of their players score, the odd man out being top marksman Jamal Johnson, who was benched in foul trouble.

Johnson returned to fire 12 third-quarter points with Gayle adding two three-pointers.

Former Thunder players Nic O'Harabe and Paul Mundy-Castle had 15 and seven points respectively for Solent, though O'Harabe missed seven of his eight free throws.

Thunder: Johnson 22, Gayle 18, Moore 17, Hildreth 12, Butterworth 8, Brame 6, Ugbana 4, Mead 3, Wright 2, Harris 2.