Basketball: Tamworth Thunderbolts defeat Newcastle Falcons in Newcastle

The fourth of these victories came on Saturday against the Newcastle Falcons, in a match where the Thunderbolts trailed until the fourth quarter.

"Once again, we had to claw our way back," Butler said.

Going into the final term of the game, Tamworth trailed 61-54. But a late flurry from leading pointscorer, Allante Harper, and local standout Bailey Keech turned the game on its head.

"Bailey Keech scored 17, and his points were huge for us," Butler said.

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"Allante [who scored 32 points in the game] and Kyle Gupton [who scored 27] were shooting the ball well, but at the end of the game, they were looking for their teammates and trusting them.

"You don't see that often from your two best players, they normally want the limelight. But these two trust their teammates a lot."

Harper and Keech powered Tamworth through to an 88-76 win with their fourth-quarter heroics, aided by Gupton's relentless scoring earlier in the game.

But what Butler found "most pleasing" was the team's trust in each other.

And while their offensive play has come along in leaps and bounds since the first round of the season, the team is still working to improve their defensive play, which Butler believes remains a weakness.

"We've worked out our offence, it's flowing," he said.

"And that's all well and good, but if you're not defending the ball, it defeats the purpose. We've got to be better at guarding the ball and helping our teammate out."

The best sign as far as Butler is concerned, is the team's commitment to improving. Although they won Saturday's game in Newcastle, by Sunday night they were back on court training.

"We came back home and we trained," he said.

"This group wants to get better. It's something the boys know that they've got to do, and we spent two hours last night on defence."

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