Hornets: 89

Oldham 64

Hornets power past Oldham to re-take 1st place

Hornets were without the inside power of Andy Sienkiewicz and Sam Barnard tonight and the tall Oldham team could have caused problems, but they had only brought 6 players and the Hornet intensity left them struggling.

Oldham took an early lead in Q1 , Andy Rushton scored with two jump shots but a number of  Hornet shots were missing. Sam Bithell managed to close the gap with a brace of his own before Kris Wood sank an unstoppable jump shot to put the Hornets in the lead. Neil Hawkins now showed that matches can be won in defence as well as offence applying  tight control on the Oldham guard, forcing a number of turnovers. Tush benefitted with drives from open play but the lead was only 2 points at the end of the quarter.

Hornets unleashed all their offensive weapons now. Zander Fyfe sank an open 3 pointer, Guy Johnson scored off his own rebound, Kris landed a fine drive and Tush sank another 2.

Oldham responded with a 6 point unanswered spree but the Hornet pressure was beginning to tell and Oldham were already blowing hard. Tom Lee sank from outside the 3 point line and Hornets went on to score 14 points in the last 4 minutes. John Whelan leading the rebounding effort and Tush unstoppable off his drive with assists from Jake Coventry. Hornets up by 15 at the break.

Hornets carried on scoring freely,  Tush and Guy on the inside and John and Sam benefiting  from the line.  Zander and Sam both landed 3 pointers and Kris was starting to throw down dunks. Oldham were still a force to reckon with on the inside though and fouls were racking up for the Hornet big men. Guy Johnson fouled out and Sam hobbled off with an ankle injury. Hornets were now 21 up and looking to avenge their 26 point loss away.

Hornet scoring dried up and Oldham pilled on pressure from inside as the Hornet’s lost focus. A timeout reminded them of the task in hand and pressure was re applied. Tush was scoring from everywhere and with the Hornets up by 25 there was time for one last hurried shot from Tom – but it wasn’t to be and Oldham carried off the bragging rights for this season

Top Scorer – Tush 38 Points

Played Out of their skin – Tush – a scoring machine. Neil brilliant defensive effort.

Best Basket – side line fast break that was less than 3 seconds from start to finish – no bounces and finished at the ring by Kris..

Must Improve - Snoozing when leading easily – the job wasn’t done till we had a 26 point lead!