Trafford – 52
Holmes Chapel 1 – 45
This low scoring game was a close affair throughout, with Hornets playing solid defence but rarely finding any fluency in offence. Q1 was littered with errors from both teams as Hornets tried to acclimatise to the unseasonal heat of Trafford’s Home court. A late 3 from tom Lee gave the visitors a 14-13 lead at the break and Q2 saw an improvement in Hornets ‘ positivity and composure in offense. Tom and Sam Bithell made the most of some “good looks” which started to appear for them.
Half-Time gave Hornets’ tired players a welcome rest, especially Alain Thomas who was forced to play more minutes than he wanted in his first game back for 10 months. Leading 33-29 the Coach could not have predicted what was to come from hornets in the second half. Trafford’s defensive intensity increased in Q3 and Hornets were forced into a series of poor offenses resulting in shot clock problems and turnovers. The home team had their own problems with scoring but won the quarter 12-2 to take a 41-35 advantage into the final session. Sensing they could still win the game, hornets began with optimism and 3’s from Tom and Sam brought the lead back to 2 with 6 minutes left in the game. However fatigue and a continued lack of scoring potency meant Trafford could close out for the win with no real drama at 52-45.
As always hornets effort was terrific, but the lack of a bench and any offensive cohesion and composure took away the possibility of a precious away victory. It was a measure of how defence dominated on the night that Tom Lee’s 14 points top-scored not just for Hornets but in the game.
