Basketball: Tamworth Thunderbolts score first win of 2023

The relief was palpable in Scott McGann's voice on Sunday.

The Tamworth Thunderbolts captain spoke to the Leader after his side's 80-74 win over the Camden Valley Wildfire the prior afternoon in Sydney, which was their first of the season.

"It feels very good," McGann said.

"It's given us a confidence boost, and it's also showed us what we're capable of if we get the little things right.

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"We still didn't play our best basketball, but it was a lot better than the first two weeks."

The team's consistent improvement over the first three weeks of the competition has been marked.

And though they began 2023 with two losses, McGann reminded the side how quickly "0 and two can turn into two and two, can turn into four and two".

"It can turn around really quickly."

McGann, with 20 points, and Allante Harper, with 33, led from the front for Tamworth.

But the captain said the win was the effort of a huge result from the whole team, and he couldn't pick just one or two standouts.

"It just a team effort," McGann said.

"Keenan Davis and Chris Pearson gave us some good stuff on the inside, some big finishes. Izack Fuller hit a big three down the stretch, so did Bailey Keech.

"Jake Larkin hit one, and Rhys Chillingworth put away a couple of free throws at the end to seal it."

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