Armstrong top scores on return, but third quarter lapse costs Thunder

Story By Rodney Woods  The Advocate

Being smarter for longer is the message North West Thunder guard Tre Armstrong took away from June 15's NBL1 South clash with the top-of-the-table Sandringham Sabres.  Despite the 80-94 loss at home, Armstrong said the Thunder showed plenty of fight across the four quarters.  "I think we did enough across the game that we could have got the win but we had a disappointing start to the third quarter and we couldn't get over that buffer of 10 points [which they won the third quarter by]," he said.  "When we are smart offensively, we can score consistently on any team but we just weren't consistent enough.  We just need to put four quarters together."
Armstrong said being smarter with ball in hand would be something the team will work on in the coming weeks.  "Our overall decision making [needs work]," he said.  "Knowing what's a good shot, what we need for each possession? If we are a bit smarter over a full game, it gives us a better chance to win."
Armstrong missed the past couple of games with a neck strain and returned to top the Thunder's scoring with 21 points.  He also recorded five rebounds and six steals.  "I wanted to focus on playing really hard," he said.  "It's a good group of guys and we love playing for Sam [Armstrong].  "We have continued to get better which is really good but we haven't played our best yet.  "Hopefully we can get it together as I think we are capable of getting some big wins over the next month."
The match paid tribute to Todd Nothrop, who died from cancer in 1995.