LAST season’s runners-up Reading Rockets travel to Worthing Thunder in the National Trophy as they commence their 2016/2017 campaign on Saturday.

The Rivermead club have added Americans Craig Ponder and Chris Hooper along with Spanish duo Dani Arcau and Juan Valerio to their roster, as they aim to seal silverware after narrowly missing out in all four competitions last year.

Rockets split their series 2-2 with Worthing during the previous campaign, and head coach Manuel Pena Garces – who takes the reins for the fourth consecutive season – is expecting a tough encounter.

He admitted: “I am really looking forward to playing our first game with this new, young group of players and it will be great to see where we are at.

“I have been pleased with our pre-season in terms of practices and the games we have played – having not had a full squad until last week and only playing three friendly games is the only thing I would have changed.

"We are happy with where we are at in the knowledge it is a long season and there is much work for us to do.

“In terms of Saturday’s game and in the following weeks, we will be concentrating on ourselves mostly but scouting and preparation has always been important to us and something we will continue to take pride in as we approach each match-up.”

He continued: “Worthing is always a difficult opponent to play against because they play good, tough basketball and always have talent on their roster. Tom Ward has been an ever-present player over the last few years and is really key to their success; he shoots the ball well, can control the game, and is tough to play against.

“They have signed an American, Lyonall Gaines, and have brought back some other key players to their group so we know they will be prepared and also wanting to start off with a win. But we are also ready and hungry, and very much looking forward to getting back to competitive basketball this weekend.”

Rockets go into Saturday’s first game of the season with a fully fit squad including captain Danny Carter, with Arcau, Valerio, Ponder, Hooper and Paulin Jardim all set to pull on a Reading vest for the first time.

Tip-off at the Thunderdome is at 7.30pm.