Hornets: 60

Rainford: 53

Horrific injury mars a tightly fought contest.

The result of the match seems secondary when an ambulance has to be called. A Rainford player was taken to Hospital in the 8th minute with what we now know to be a dislocated and broken ankle - all at Holmes Chapel wish him well for a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the court next year.

Rainford had brought a tall team and it became obvious they were going to try and work they points from the inside. Holmes Chapel responded with a mixture of low post attack and outside shooting. Tom Lee settled early and rattled in 3 trade mark shots. Sam Barnard also sank a close in jump shot and the game was balanced when the accident occurred. There was a long break whilst the ambulance arrived and after the break Andy Sienkiewicz muscled home for two and Danny Wareham hit a brace from the line after being fouled on a drive. The Hornet Defence locked down and Guy Johnson scored late to give the Hornets a 9 point lead.

Rainford responded in Q2 and were excellent in the first 5 minutes with the Hornets making turnovers and missing easy shots. Rainford had changed their defence to a zone and  the only score for the Hornets was a text book jump shot from Steve Arnold. Rainford had now cut the lead to 1 point. Kris Wood now showed why he is such an asset to the team by hitting 3 unstoppable 3 point shots in a row, Barney grabbed rebounds and put back and Kris finished the half to take a 11 point lead into the second half.

The Hornet Defence now locked shut and Rainford couldn’t find any gaps. Sam Bithell sank a pair from the charity strip and Tom and Barney set off on racking up their scores again. Kris hit 2 jump shots and a 20 point lead was established with the hornets looking comfortable. But Rainford are an experienced side and their heads didn’t drop. They screened well to get their centre free and started to claw back the lead. Jake Coventry scored the last points of the quarter taking a shot like a veteran, even though he is in his first year of senior basketball.

The hornets still had a lead of 15 to start Q4 and Rainford set about reducing it as quick as they could. Baskets were hard to come by Tom landed a two pointer and Danny wriggled past 3 players to place the ball on the ring for everyone to watch for an eternity before it finally rolled in. Hornets started to miss easy shots and reverted to running the clock down. Rainford chased and harried but never got close enough to make it really nervous. John Whelan slipped behind the defence to score the last basket and seal the match.

Top Scorer: - Tom - 17 Points

Best Player: - Kris - super array of shots and great defence too

Best Basket: - gets trapped by 3 players but manages to find a pass out to Tom for a long range 3 pointer

Must Improve: - Screening off the ball - it’s not optional!