Hornets: 50

Pride: 70

Hornets lose their away to the best defence they have faced this year.

Pride II showed why they are unbeaten at home with a defence that most national league teams would be proud of. Hornets had only taken 8 players and didn’t match the Pride intensity.

Q1 was a very slow start for the Hornets. Tom Lee’s 3 pointer was the only shot to score for 5 minutes as Pride raced to an 8 point lead. Andrew Rushton accelerated the scoring for the Hornets but easy baskets were being given away with unnecessary turnovers. Hornet defence blocking was lack lustre and the switch to a zone defence didn’t help  as Pride released their outside shooters. Sam Barnard worked hard to return a rebound and Tush scored an And 1 but the Hornets had lost the quarter by 10 points.

Hornets got their defence tighter in Q2 but still found baskets hard to come by at the other end. Neither team put the scorer to much work apart from racking up fouls – and this was hurting the Hornet short bench more than Pride. Danny Wareham sank a long range 3 as the highlight of the quarter but the Hornets were 18 down at half time.

Barney now threw in a master class – demonstrating that a 6’9” centre who can shoot will always be a handful and he landed 11 of the 12 points scored by the Hornets this quarter. The other coming from Neil Hawkins on the line after being checked “in the act”. Barney along with Guy Johnson also dominated the defence boards and the Hornets tried to close the gap but Barney picked up a 4th foul and this limited some of his options.

Sam Bithell, Danny, Guy and Zander Fyfe all got on the score sheet in Q4 as the Hornets got their defence to step up and take steals and benefit from the fast break. Tush put in a shift trying to score with the “And 1” to slow the game to Hornets liking – but gaps opened in the defence as the Hornets chased the game and no impact could be made on the deficit. Hornets lost by 20.

Top Scorer – Tush 19 Points

Played Out of their skin – Barney – great rebounds and unstoppable jump shots.

Best Basket – Guy pulls down a rebound outlets to Tush who draws his player and drops an assist to Zander to finish unopposed.

Must Improve -  Movement of the ball by passing and screening off the ball.