Worthing Thunder ended their five game losing run in style and knocked Teesside off the top of the NBL conference.

Thunder beat their old rivals 88-84 in a dramatic clash at the Leisure Centre, despite having skipper Paul Mundy-Castle ejected in the first quarter for a double technical foul.

Mundy-Castle argued furiously with the referees call for the first technical, then knocked the ball out of the hands of the Teesside player who was about to restart the action.

Marvin Addy switched to the point guard role and, along with Dwayne Martin, was outstanding as Thunder wiped out deficits of 34-22 at the quarter and 51-45 at the half.

They forged ahead 68-63 by the end of the third period and held their nerve in the closing stages with Chris Wright playing a big part in defence on his home debut.

Sean Hampton hit 25 points, Martin 22, Gaylon Moore 17, and Addy 15 while Ralph Bucci had 32 and EJ Harrison 23 for the visitors.

Plymouth took over leadership of the division but Inter-basket did Thunder another favour by winning 83-80 at high flying Solent.