Hornets: 74
Warrington: 77
Holmes Chapel, with a weakened team, were extremely unlucky to lose a close game which went to overtime.
After being 13-4 down Hornets gradually pulled back to a one point deficit at the quarter 21-22 with Sam Barnard inside and Tom Lee outside combining for 17 of the points.
In Q2 Hornets locked down their zone defence and took away Warrington’s fast break points. Barney and Tom continued to score freely and John Whelan, Danny Wareham and Guy Johnson played their parts in setting up some of the season’s best offensive team play. At the half Hornets led 43-35 with no foul trouble, but fatigue was going to be a factor in the second half.
After seeing Tom hit 17 first half points from 8 shots, Coach Knowles from Warrington changed his defence to a “box and one” to shutdown the outside threat. This worked well in Q3 with Hornets struggling at the offensive end and making errors through fatigue on defence. Warrington’s reward was a 25-11 quarter with a 13-0 run at the end to lead 60-54.
At this point Holmes chapel could have settled for a gallant defeat with the prospect of Warrington pulling away against tired bodies. However with Guards Neil Hawkins and Danny Wareham and Gary Masson dropping in to give the inside players rests, Hornets showed terrific spirit and desire to win the game. Receiving such close attention turned Tom into a a passer and the team began to benefit from the space created by the box and one with John, Guy and Barney all scoring off his assists. An 11-4 Hornets run at the start of Q4 was huge in the context of a tight game and a tired but smart defence kept Warrington down to 9 points for the quarter. John Whelan’s calm finish in the final seconds to tie up the game was no more than the Hornet’s deserved.
Overtime continued the tense basket for basket struggle, but was finally settled when Holmes Chapel were victims of some strange calls by the officials and their familiar weaknesses at the foul line, scoring only 1 of 4 attempts at the death.
Positives:
Tremendous spirit throughout and a strong team effort from every player.
In spells some of the best offensive and defensive work seen this season.
Barney’s magnificent game – 31 points and utter domination of the boards while playing a full 40 minutes.
Tom’s first half shooting
Need to improve:
In tight games 5 of 14 from the foul line is too much to overcome.
Screening off the ball to free a shooter.
Play of the game:
Point guard calls a “2 left” play, Tom makes the run, Danny sees the defence read the play and hits Guy on an inside cut to force a shooting foul.
