Coventry Crusaders suffered two dramatic last-second defeats at the hands of Worthing Thunder this weekend as they slipped to fifth in the NBL table.

A tight game on Saturday saw Coventry miss out by a single point, going down 77-78 at the Coventry Sports Centre.

The Bupa Crusaders took the lead in the first two quarters, but Worthing kept in touch, with Paul Mundy-Castle scoring a great sequence of shots for the visitors.

After a defensive first half the score was 36 apiece, and the third quarter proved just as close as teams traded baskets.

In the fourth quarter the lead went back and forth. Worthing finally pulled ahead by four points with 31 seconds to play when Crusaders’ Eduard Girbal was fouled while attempting a three-pointer.

At the free throw line he sunk all three of the baskets to give his team the chance of pulling off a comeback.

When Girbal stole the ball from the Thunder and Marvin Harrison scored, the supporters went wild as the Crusaders led 77-76.

With just five seconds left on the clock, Worthing stole the ball and scored from a controversial buzzer shot.

The player of the game was Mundy-Castle, whose 36 points were the sole reason that Worthing had anything to offer at all.

Crusaders scorers: Rhooms 2, Donaldson 4, Sharland 8, Harrison 11, Davis 11, Girbal 18, D. Pope 23

Thunder scorers: Smith 2, McGee 6, Harriott 13, Moore 20, Mundy-Castle 36

The following day Coventry travelled to Worthing to try and gain revenge, but lost 82-79.

The first quarter saw the Crusaders off to another good start. They were able to contain Paul Mundy-Castle to just two points during the first 10 minutes of play, and led 26 - 18 by the end of the quarter.

Crusaders continued strong in the second quarter and maintained their lead.

In the third quarter the Thunder took a run at the Crusaders and took the lead for the first time. Gaylon Moore and Cory McGee both scored at will to give the home team a  59 – 57 advantage.

The race was on, neck and neck, and with 17 seconds to go Marvin Harrison went to the line.  Crusaders were behind 78 - 79 at that point.

Harrison scored one out of two free throw attempts to tie the game. But again the final seconds proved despairing, as McGee found space and scored a three-pointer on the buzzer.

Coach Dip Donaldson said:

"I was extremely disappointed because we have let ourselves down. It is so frustrating to know that I’m not getting the best out of all the players.

“There were those on the team who played extremely well tonight. In fact, I think it the smartest game we’ve played all season.

“We are capitalising on the things we’ve learned, and certain individuals are really stepping up.

"That’s what I want to concentrate on, because the fact that other players are not contributing like they should is very frustrating.

“If we can continue to learn and improve like we have in the past couple of weeks, there’s still a lot of light at the end of the tunnel for us.”

Crusader scorers: Sharland 4, Rhooms 7, Harrison 7, Donaldson 8, Scott 8, Davis 13, Girbal 13, D. Pope 19