Hornets Overcome Wildcats for Ugly Win

by noelrr
21/04/2012

The Parramatta Wildcats and Hills District Hornets senior men's basketball teams clashed on Friday night at the Auburn Basketball Centre, in Round Four of the Waratah Championship League (WCL) competition. The Wildcats recovered from a horror first quarter effort to put the Hornets under intense pressure in the dying stages of the game but their last-quarter heroics would ultimately fizzle out, with the visitors holding on for a 97-68 win. It was at best an ugly first quarter by the Wildcats, with their up-tempo offence failing to fire and thus allowing the Hornets to power away to a 36-18 lead at the first break. Hornets power forward Josh Chapman was outstanding in that term, leading all scorers with 11 points as the Hornets dominated every facet of the game. Jason Stong would be the second Hornets player into double figures, with the athletic swing-man seemingly scoring at will and racing to 16 points at the long break, with the Hornets leading 59-38 and in full control. Parramatta looked less desperate in the third term but the Hornets were not in a mood to be run down, with powerhouse centre Richard Clarke also moving into double figures for the visitors as they continued to dominate, leading 80-59 and appearing to be already over the line, in spite of one more quarter to play. Parramatta fans had been given little cause for joy in the first three quarters but were stunned by the turn of events in the fourth term, as the Wildcats powered up their defensive muscle and the Hornets began to implode. The Wildcats closed to just five points in arrears and could have reduced the margin even further but for a soft turnover on yet another fast break. The Hornets scored from that turnover and in doing so, recovered their poise to regain control of the game and record an 11-point win. Parramatta head coach Merve Tait said "As coaches, we (Tait and Tahi Martin) lost our way in the first quarter". "We persevered with a new defence for the entire first half but it just wasn't working". "We talked about it during half time and the players wanted to go back to our regular strategy and it worked for us, although it was too late to get us a win" said Tait. The Wildcats headed up the Pacific Highway for an away game against the Newcastle Hunters on Saturday night, whilst the Hornets returned home to host the Bankstown Bruins at the Hills Basketball Stadium - also on Saturday night. Friday @ Auburn: Hills District Hornets 97 (Jason Strong 22 points; Josh Chapman 18; Richard Clarke 16 points, 10 boards; Emils Duselis 11 boards) def Parramatta Wildcats 86 (Jed Atherton 16 points; Rangi Kennedy 15; Rory Sutton 12, Jamie Newth 12, Goran Veg 11 points, 9 boards, 6 blocked shots) PHOTO: Jason Strong drives to the hoop to score against the Wildcats - photo by Noel Rowsell (www.photoexcellence.com.au) Apologies if the photo does not load, as the site administrator is still experiencing problems. The photo can be viewed in the Media Gallery on the PhotoExcellence website.

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