Hornets: 74

High Peak: 60

Hornets win the top v bottom of the division clash.

The road to get to Buxton goes up and down many times and as you head to another peak you think there can’t be any more slopes, but there’s always more than you expect … and this is how the game was too. Hornets built  a lead 5 times in this match only to see the Storm take it back again and only a determined effort in Q4 finally saw the game swing to the league leaders.

Hornets started brightly and scored from the first 4 offences. John Whelan from close in and outside shots from Sam Bithell and Tom Lee immediately threatened that the Hornets would race away with the game. But the Storm were not in a mood to lie down and scored off some excellent individual plays. Guy Johnson and Sam Barnard both scored off their own rebounds and Sam Bithell took a drive in to open a lead again before the Storm really closed their defence. Andy Sienkiewicz opened his tally from the line but the Hornets were paying for poor shots now and the Storm levelled at the end of the quarter.

Hornets scoring dried up at the start of Q2 a 3 pointer from Zander Fyfe being the only score in the first 4 minutes and the Storm took the lead with sustained pressure. John turned in a couple of excellent low post plays to get the Hornets going again and they finished the half with an 8-0 run to take a half time lead of 5 points.

This was immediately given away at the start of Q3 as the Hornets turned over the ball a number of times and failed to score for 4 minutes. Sam, Barney and Zander scored in quick succession to take the lead back, only to see it given away again to pinpoint long shots from the Storm. Tom immediately proved that his speciality is long shots and drained a couple to take the lead back. Danny Wareham showed that the Hornets have a team of 3 pointers when he finished the scoring in the quarter and the Hornet lead was still only 5 points.

Storm raced in two fast breaks to make it  a really tight game. Barney and Guy now really took the game to the Storm on the inside and whenever the defence countered that threat Danny and Tom sank shots from outside. Hornets couldn’t be contained now and punished the Storm as they chased the game. Sam Bithell was fouled to stop the clock but paid back with 4 from 4 off the line. Tom put the cherry on top with a 3 to end it. A 14 point win sounds like an easy victory but this was far from it!

Top Scorer - Sam  15 Points
Played Out of their skin - Sam - ran the offence, great drives and 6 from 7 free throws, Guy - pounced on every loose ball and great close in finishing
Best Basket - Super pass from defence to Guy on the fast break - who finishes in the blink of an eye
Must Improve - Help defence - you’ve got to get off your own player to provide assistance