The last dance for the North-West Thunder in 2024 - Game Previews

North-West Thunder Game Preview By Brad Cole (Thunder Media)

The last dance for the North-West Thunder in 2024 will see them hit the road as they look to end their NBL1 South campaign on a winning note.

Sam Armstrong’s team play their penultimate game of the season against 11^th-placed Nunawading (10-10) on Saturday night before backing up on Sunday afternoon with a trip to Dandenong (12-8), who currently sit in seventh spot on the ladder.

With both opponents still in the eight-team logjam for the last four spots in the finals, the 13^th-placed Thunder (9-11) can expect no ‘dead rubber’ games across the weekend, but will be keen to play the spoiler role with no pressure on them.

While the Thunder are yet to meet the Spectres in 2024, they are all-too-familiar with the Rangers’ squad after they were handed a comprehensive 101-71 drubbing by them back in April.

The Thunder’s task will be made all that much harder without the services of leading scorer Sekou Sylla, who suffered a season-ending foot injury against Kilsyth on June 29, while back-up centre Paul Campbell is also in some doubt after playing limited minutes last week.

But the team showed they can get the job done in the absence of Sylla and Campbell as witnessed by their 96-85 victory over Bendigo last Saturday night.

In front of one of the most vocal crowds all season, Archie Woodhill stepped up to cover the absence of his frontcourt teammates, scoring a game-high 30 points to give the Thunder a perfect ending in their final home game of the campaign at Ulverstone’s Mazda BT-50 Stadium.

He was ably ‘assisted’ by point guard Seth Swalve, who continued his excellent late-season form with 19 points on 6-8 shooting from behind the arc to go with a season-high 15 assists and four rebounds.

Also helping fill the void were Somerset duo Jake Afoa and Anok Magot, who combined for 16 points and 15 rebounds as the hosts extended their lead over the Braves at the end of every quarter.

Saturday night’s game at The Graveyard against Nunawading tips off at 7.30pm, with Sunday’s final game of the season against Dandenong gets underway at 2pm.

Both games can be viewed by logging into the NBL1 website.

The Thunder will formally end their season next Tuesday night at the Spreyton Cider Company when then stage their annual awards function and MVP count.

LEADING PLAYERS

Points – Thunder: Sekou Sylla 21.56ppg, Seth Swalve 15.25ppg, Tre Armstrong 12.58ppg. Spectres: Jalen Johnson 17.75ppg, Trendon Hankerson 13.80ppg, Jack Gandolfo 11.50ppg. Rangers: Tad Dufelmeier 16.80ppg, Jacob Tryon 14.65ppg, Mason Peatling 14.35ppg.

Rebounds – Thunder: Sekou Sylla 11.19rpg, Archie Woodhill 6.05rpg, Paul Campbell 5.05rpg. Spectres: Jalen Johnson 7.35rpg, Trendon Hankerson 5.85rpg, Kingsley Box 5.05rpg. Rangers: Mason Peatling 10.25rpg, Jacob Tryon 7.00rpg, Tad Dufelmeier 5.40rpg.

Assists – Thunder: Seth Swalve 5.75apg, Sekou Sylla 2.19apg, Ben Woolley 1.90apg. Spectres: Jack Gandolfo 4.50apg, Trendon Hankerson 4.45apg, Jordan Geer 1.92apg. Rangers: Tad Dufelmeier 4.00apg, Brandon Betson 2.70apg, Mason Peatling 2.10apg.

LAST THREE MEETINGS

2023 – Thunder def Spectres 92-79, 2022 – Spectres def Thunder 88-71, 2019 – Thunder lt Spectres 79-92.

2024 – Thunder lt Rangers 71-101, 2023 – Rangers lt Thunder 92-95, 2022 – Rangers lt Thunder 59-70.