Holmes Chapel Hornets II – 40
Congleton – 85
Hornets were without their 2 top scorers for tonight’s game and despite a top effort in the first half they lost their way against a well drilled Congleton team in the second, allowing Congleton to run out easy winners.
Both defences were working harder than a one armed bricklayer in Baghdad at the start of the match and despite both teams creating good scoring chances nothing was dropping. Literally “Nothing was dropping”, apart from the eyelids of the scorer, as after 5 minutes there was no score! Russell Hafidh opened for the Hornets with a brace from the line. Keith Kilcommons went straight through the zone to score a reverse lay up and Chris Clegg was also collecting off the Charity stripe but Congleton had opened a 3 point lead at the end of the quarter mainly due to quality outside shooting from Josh Bowe.
Hornets were working hard to keep Congleton’s big forwards under control and this left outside opportunities open for the visitors to display their shooting talent. Rob Moss crashed through to prove that 6’8” is hard to stop at the ring and Hornets also picked up points from Danny Wareham and Russell from outside shots. Kajetan Kowasz landed a long two but the visitors quality in depth was just starting to pull the game their way with a 10 point lead at the half.
The second half was one way traffic with Hornets unable to penetrate the tight zone defence and then not responding to the Congleton fast break. Andy Sienkiewiez showed absolute determination to power in from short range but a 12 point unanswered spree put the game beyond reach for the Hornets. Hornets kept their pride and battled to the end, finishing with 3 pointers from Danny and Russell but more work will need to be done on the training court to provide credible match ups to teams of Congleton’s quality.
- Top scorer – Russell 18 points
- Played out of their skin – Russell – great outside shooting performance
- Best Basket – Rob pulls down a rebound and finds Danny on the break with a brilliant assist. Danny finishes despite the attention of 2 defenders.
- Must improve – Offensive rebounders have to fight around blocks.
