The Thunder continued its early-season roll through the opposition last night, when it downed the Buffalo Bandits, 22-15, before a crowd of 10,216 at the Marine Midland Arena.

Joe Hiltz led Thunder scorers with seven goals and two assists and Matt Shearer added five goals. Gary Gait and Rodney Tapp each chipped in three goals. Shearer also set up four goals, while Gait set up three.

This win -- the Thunder's third in three tries -- wasn't quite as breezy as the other two, although there were times it looked like it would be.

"We knew in preseason we had a strong team, but we didn't know how good we were," said Thunder captain Tom Ryan. "This was a huge win for us because [Buffalo] was the best team we've played so far."

The Thunder romped to an imposing 13-6 halftime lead, fueled by Hiltz's five goals, and three by Gait.

Baltimore took control of the game with a decisive four-goal run in the final two minutes of the first period, which expanded what had been a slim 4-3 lead.

"We came out, we were ready to play," said Gait. "We got balanced scoring from a lot of different guys, which is what we needed."

Paul Cantanbene set off the rampage at 12:58, when he circled untouched in front of Bandits goalie Marty O'Neill, then beat him just under the crossbar.

Just 21 seconds later, Gait -- who suffered from the effects of a flu bug -- followed up by cashing in a lead pass from Hiltz.

The loss ended Buffalo’s streak of four straight regular season wins and extended their losing streak against the Thunder to three. The last time the Bandits had given up 20 or more goals was also against the Thunder, a 20-15 loss 14 February 1998, in Baltimore.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Baltimore Thunder (3-0)           8  5  3  6  --  22
Buffalo Bandits (1-1)             3  3  5  4  --  15

BALTIMORE THUNDER             BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Hiltz          7 - 2     9    Tavares        5 - 5    10
Shearer        5 - 4     9    D Kilgour      3 - 5     8
Gait           3 - 4     7    Cordingley     2 - 1     3
Tapp           3 - 0     3    Doddridge      2 - 0     2
Fay            0 - 3     3    Panos          2 - 0     2
Evans          0 - 3     3    R Kilgour      0 - 2     2
Cantabene      1 - 1     2    Santos         0 - 2     2
Martin         1 - 1     2    Batley         1 - 0     1
Tillman        1 - 1     2    Hasen          0 - 1     1
Kessenich      0 - 2     2    T Kilgour      0 - 1     1
Donovan        0 - 2     2    Silcott        0 - 1     1
Gervais        1 - 0     1    Rosa           0 - 1     1
Fulks          0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           55    Shots on goal           55
Saves made by           40    Saves made by           48
   Sanderson        40             O'Neill         4    
                                   Disher         29

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY CONFIRM WITH BALTIMORE SUN ***

The National Lacrosse League web site contributed to this game report.