The good times continue to roll for Tamworth.
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The Thunderbolts made it four wins on the bounce this Waratah League men’s division one season courtesy of an 82-73 dispatching of St George at the Sports Dome on Saturday.
Tamworth held sway at every change to retain their perfect record and equal top spot.
Bolts coach John Ireland hailed the consistency of his side’s display.
“It was a pretty good performance from us and a big turnaround on the week before,” Ireland said.
“St George is a much bigger side than us, so we needed to execute our game-plan, which was competing on the boards and sticking to our up-tempo offence.
“We need to use our speed to our advantage and I thought we did that well.
“We knew we weren’t going to out-rebound them, but we competed well with Cody Miller inside one of our big bodies, while our guards Max Chill(ingworth) and Scott (McGann) from Armidale impressed in that area.”
Tamworth’s scoring punch is clearly evident with the Bolts averaging 85.5 points per game.
That mark is only surpassed by another of the competition’s unbeaten sides Shoalhaven Tigers.
The key reason is Tamworth’s ability to find a wide variety of different avenues, rather than rely on one or two star performers.
Teenage point guard Max Chillingworth top-scored for the hosts, draining an excellent 17 points.
American ace Kyle Gupton (12) and the evergreen Chris Skilton (10) finished with double-figures as nine different Bolts got onto the scoresheet.
Matt Monckton earned praise from Ireland for some crucial baskets on his way to nine points, the same figure as Justin Leehy.
Tamworth held sway by five points at the first change and the Saints struggled when the home side, backed by a top crowd court-side, lifted a gear in the second term.
The Bolts skipped out to a 42-33 advantage at the main break and stretched the gap to 14 by three-quarter time.
“We executed well in the second and third quarter,” Ireland said.
“Despite turning the ball over cheaply a few times in the last quarter, we steadied the ship and came away with an important win against a St George side which was second in the state last year.”
St George’s star American import DeMarcus Berry hit a game-high 23 points in a losing cause.
Tamworth now has a weekend off to look forward to, before a high-profile showdown on the road against the Newcastle Hunters on April 8.