Gary Smith today insisted his Worthing Thunder side will have no problems staying motivated in their title chase.

League-leading Thunder idled along in third gear for much of yesterday's EBL division one contest at home to lowly Kings Lynn Fury.

But they stepped on the gas for most of the third quarter, scoring 27 of the first 28 points in the period to set up a convincing 114-97 win.

Thunder opened up a 31-point lead and had secured their 14th win in 15 league games (28 points) by the time Fury enjoyed a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter.

Smith's men won 84-74 at London Capitals on Saturday and remain clear of Reading who, with 12 wins in 14 games (24 points), are emerging as their strongest challengers.

The top two meet at Worthing a week on Sunday while third-placed Manchester could now slip out of contention having lost the services of high-scoring Steve Gayle.

Thunder have big games to come but Smith insists his team will not slip-up in more routine fixtures.

The head coach said: "I think it was boring at times for the players. Maybe it was okay for the crowd.

"But we did what we had to do, which was make a few stops. We came out after half-time and made nine stops and got up by 30 points.

"You play a lot of double-headers, then you come up against a team at the other end of the table and the guys know they are going to win.

"But they are focused to win the league and they manage to keep the focus on what we are trying to do as a team.

"I can't argue with it. All the guys are doing their bit and helping us win."

Kings Lynn led 24-18 late in the first period and were only 51-49 down when American point guard Lawrence Summers hit a brilliant fadeaway jumper as he was fouled and added the extra point.

But they only added one more field goal, an unopposed dunk by Hank Rivers after a lucky ricochet, in the next eight mintues as Thunder's defence slammed shut.

Alfredo Ott scored his first points of the game to end the first half and that turned out to be the opening basket of a 29-1 run.

Pat Bates, having led the scoring at Capitals with 26 points, produced some strong finishes and had 33 this time.

Marcus Avant hardly missed a shot and hit 14 points in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating three off Marvin Addy's steal to close the period.

Danny Midgley also put up good numbers in 21 minutes off the bench.

When it came to filling up the stats sheet, though, no one could match Rivers, the American big man Thunder let go at Christmas.

Clearly told to go out and have fun, he went through his full offensive repertoire, sought one-on-ones where possible and put up 33 field goal attempts on his way to a monster double-double.