Hornets: 71

Rossendale: 47

Hornets ease through in a hard fought Top v Bottom clash

Top of the table Hornets travelled to Rossendale to try for back to back away wins only  to find that Rossendale were in no mood to give in easily and the Hornets had to play some structured Basketball to secure the victory.

Q1 was an even affair, Tom Lee opened up with typically accurate long range shooting, and Rossendale responded with some good inside moves. Sam Bithell got sent to the line after being fouled on a drive, only to prove he is one of the league’s top free throw shooters. Rossendale pulled back to level the scores mid way though the quarter and  both teams were in foul trouble as neither side gave an inch. John Whelan and Andy Sienkiewicz proved a handful inside the paint and both scored from free throws and Sam Barnard yet again proved that a 6′9″ centre who can jump shoot is always going to be high in the scorers list. The Quarter ended with both teams even on 15 points.

Hornets locked down the defence in Q2, realising that Rossendale’s main threat was on the inside. Players were providing “help” defence when playing man to man and frustrating the Rossendale forwards. Guy Johnson and Gary Masson were excellent in rebounding and leaving Rossendale with no “second chance” baskets. Tom again made Rossendale pay when they tried to switch to a zone defence and Barney and Sam ran up points when the Man defence was employed. Hornets were 5 points up at the break but not clear yet.

The start of Q3 proved the defining point of the match. Hornets went on a 12-2 point streak and the game was effectively won.Tom landed his forth 3 pointer of the game and Barney, John and Andy all landed well worked jump shots as the Hornets appeared to score on each offence. Rossendale toughened up their defence but this only allowed John and Sam to showcase their free throw ability. In defence the Hornets were magnificent - typified by a huge rebound from 5′6″ guard Danny Wareham. Hornets had a 17 point lead at the end of the quarter.

The Hornets had now switched to zone defence and Rossendale made a brief flurry with some outside shots before a time out from the Hornets steadied the ship and normal service was resumed. Rossendale never gave in and fought for every loose ball, as Sam with his black eye will testify! Danny Wareham popped in a 3 pointer and Barney and John continued to profit on the inside. Guy Johnson scored the last basket and the Hornets went home battered, bruised and happy.

Top Scorer: - Barney - 21 Points

Best Player: - Unstoppable Jump shots and Huge rebound effort and Sam Brilliant drives and Mr. 100% from the free throw line 9 from 9

Best Basket: - Tom draws two defenders before passing to John who drops a superb bounce pass assist to Leave Barney a clear drive to the basket..

Must Improve: - Turnovers - trying to do the difficult thing when easy options are available.