Santa Ana Thunder split two road games

For the second week in a row, the new Santa Ana Thunder basketball team split its two games, this time on the road.

The Thunder (2-2) are idle this week, then host 2023 TBL champ Potawatomi (April 5 at 7 p.m.) at Cleveland High School and April 7 (at 3 p.m. at Bernalillo High School).

Here’s how the Thunder’s first road games went:

Santa Ana 129, Wichita 118: Trailing throughout much of the game, this March 22 contest was last tied at 103.

The Thunder’s 36-27 outburst in the final period put the game away; thus, a 26-15 advantage over the game’s 7:56.

The Thunder had six players in double figures, led by Edward Oliver-Hampton’s 24. Ty Sean Powell had 18, Ilisia Washington came up with 15, Christopher Bradford and Bradlee Lewis had 14 apiece, and Darnell Ruston added 12.

The Thunder didn’t fare well from behind the arc, making 4 of 15 attempts, while the Skykings were 16 of 46. The Tunder enjoyed the advantage at the foul line, going 27 of 37, to Wichita’s 22 of 29.

Enid 109, Santa Ana 102: On March 23, this time in Oklahoma, the Thunder finally had an advantage from long range, sinking 5 of 14 3-pointers – not setting any record – while the Outlaws canned only 3 of 25 attempts.

The middle two periods were the difference, as Enid “won” them both, 31-17 in the second quarter and 33-22 in the third.

The Thunder led most of the way until Enid caught them at 66, then used a 14-7 run to end the third quarter for an 80-73 lead. The teams played evenly in the final period, each scoring 29 points, but the Thunder could never close the gap to fewer than six points.

Oliver-Hampton led the Thunder for the fourth game in a row, dropping in 27 points. Lewis had 17, Rushton scored 15, Bradford chipped in with 13 and Bakarie Evelyn had 11.

Santa Ana is in the middle of the league’s seven-team Central Division standings.