Hornets on a roll
With a win against Ararat on Friday night Horsham Hornets stamped their authority as the best team in the Wimmeragrampians as well as the entire Country Basketball League southwest conference.
The Hornets controlled the game at Horsham Basketball Stadium from the start as guard Mitch Martin launched a barrage of three-pointers in the opening minutes.
Martin combined with Jake Hobbs to score the home side’s first 15 points as the Hornets skipped away to an early eight-point lead.
The Redbacks fought back, with forward Josh Fiegert connecting on his second three-point attempt of the quarter to trim the deficit, but Damien Skurrie helped push the Hornets’ buffer back out to 12 by quarter time.
It was more of the same in the second, with Fiegert and Cody Lindsay again cutting into the lead before Horsham pushed it out further.
Skurrie and Martin continued to dominate while wing scorer Jeremiah Mckenzie worked his way into the contest, and a Tim Pickert three-pointer before half time gave the Hornets a 19-point lead.
Fiegert, who finished as Ararat’s top scorer with 21 points, continued to play hard in the second half while DJ Woods rebounded from a quiet opening to finish the game with 12 points, but the Redbacks could not match the home side’s firepower.
Mckenzie led all scorers with 24 points and Martin was just behind with 22, while Skurrie and Pickert netted 18 each.
Austin Mckenzie and Sam Breuer scored eight and seven respectively off the bench, and the 114-74 final score allowed the Hornets to play less experienced players like Max and Cody Bryan and Jude Kilpatrick.
Kilpatrick scored his second and third points of the season on a basket late in the last quarter.
A positive for the Redbacks was that all but one of their players got on the scoresheet, while their three-point shooting was also strong.
The Hornets now top the ladder with six wins from as many games and a percentage of nearly 170.
Their dominance will be tested by a two-game road trip in round seven as they face Millicent on Saturday night and Mount Gambier Lakers on Sunday afternoon.
The Lakers have been a perennial rival of the Hornets and will be the hardest opponent they have faced this season.
Ararat will be at home in a double-header against Warrnambool at 7pm on Saturday night and Bellarine Storm at 1pm on Sunday.
The Redbacks are one of four mid-table teams with three wins and could go a long way towards earning their second consecutive finals berth with a win.
Stawell will return to action with an important clash against Bellarine at 7pm on Saturday night at Stawell Leisure Complex.
The Wildcats and Storm are the last two winless teams and will be desperate to prove themselves.
Horsham Lady Hornets will make the same road trip as their male counterparts, playing Millicent on Saturday night and Mount Gambier on Sunday.
Two wins would see the Lady Hornets finish the round on top of the ladder.