Lancashire makes its longest away trip of the season on Saturday when it visits Worthing Thunder for a 7:30 p.m. tip at Worthing Leisure Centre.
The Spinners (1-5, 0-2 NBL1) are coming off their first victory of the season, a 69-point rout of Liverpool in the National Cup third-round, but continues to search for an opening win in league play following losses to London and Bradford.
Guard David Walsh has averaged 21.5 points over the last two games, scoring a Lancashire-best on the season of 27 points against Liverpool. He hit seven 3-pointers for a Spinners team, who entered the National Cup making just six per game on 28 percent shooting. Forward Ayo Nuwe had his first double-double (15 & 10) of the year last Sunday.
Second-year forward Connor Murtagh leads the team with 14.5 points on 46 percent shooting and 6.3 rebounds per game. He’s scored in double-figures in five of six outings. Guard Jack Hudson ranks second with 12.8 points per game and leads the team with 4.8 assists and 3.1 steals.
The Spinners return second leading rebounder David Ulph, who missed the season’s first game of last weekend’s double header as he played sparingly against his former team Liverpool. Zion Tordoff (ankle) remains a game-time decision.
American and former Morehead State forward Lyonell Gaines leads Worthing (4-1, 1-1) with 33 points per game and had a personal best 43 against Solent on Sept. 24 in the National Trophy. Four of his five games as leading scorer were 30-plus point effort.
The Thunder were narrow 75-74 victors over Sussex Bears in their National Cup matchup, but are riding a two-game winning streak following Saturday’s 87-85 defeat of London.
Lancashire won both meetings in 2015-16 against Worthing by a combined four points. Kyle Carey’s layup with less than a second remaining gave the Spinners a 95-93 road win on Nov. 14, 2015 before withstanding two missed free throws by Worthing at Castle Leisure Centre in March.
Despite early season struggles finding the basket, the Spinners have shot over 46 percent from the floor in three of the last four games, including their best performance in the loss at Bradford, and are 65-of-143 in league play.
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