THE Horsham Hornets under-14 side has guaranteed it will finish in the top 12 teams at the Australian Club Championships after finishing second in its pool on Tuesday.
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A big 77-41 win against North West Tasmania was enough to sew up second spot and progress to the championship section.
- See the box score – here.
Coach Damien Kilpatrick said it was a good performance by his whole team.
“It was one of the best wins the boys have had since I’ve been coaching them because they played as a team,” he said.
“The bench players were up and about as well.
“When they got on they worked to extend the lead and there was a lot of atmosphere with everybody supporting each other.”
Kilpatrick said the side started slowly again but really put its foot down after the first quarter.
Guard Ben Hobbs continued to be a scoring force as he added another 33 to his tournament tally.
He ranked third for points a game, after the preliminary pool round.
“He would have had about 10 assists as well,” Kilpatrick said.
“Sam Breuer was in foul trouble early in the first quarter but opened up the game after quarter time.
“It was a team effort though – they all came on contributed somewhere and kept the turnovers down.”
The side progressed to be grouped with the Knox Raiders and Norths Bears in the next round.
The side was defeated by the Raiders 57- 37 on Wednesday.
- See the box score – here.
“We didn’t come out after half-time and turnovers destroyed us,” Kilpatrick said.
“I reckon we would have had 30 from bad passing.
“It wasn’t Knox’s pressure, it was more our bad choices
“But Knox is an exceptionally good team.”
Kilpatrick said the performance of his whole side was down on what it could be.
“Cody Bryant was probably our best player because he was turning the ball over,” he said.
“My main players were the ones turning it over.
“I had to bring Hugh Taylor into the game to counter Knox’s height and he did a hell of a job on defence.”
With only one game on Wednesday Kilpatrick took the opportunity to allow the side some downtime in the afternoon.
“We’ll have a training session on Thursday morning before we play at lunchtime,” he said.
“All we need now is one more win and we’ll be in the top eight.
“We’re in the top 12 and now I’m getting greedy.
“That’s what we’re here for – that’s what nationals is about.”