A SHAUN Bruce triple-double powered the Horsham Hornets to a 58-point thrashing of Darebin Giants in their Big V Basketball League division two clash at Horsham stadium on Saturday night.
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The Hornets struggled to break free from the undersized Giants in the opening half but a 34-13 third quarter smashed open the game and set the course for the 111-53 win.
Bruce led the Hornets with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists to bring up his first career triple-double and he also added six steals.
Hornets forward Damien Skurrie added 23 points and 10 rebounds while Tim Pickert scored 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Hornets centre Ben New proved himself a giant by amassing 20 rebounds as the Hornets out- rebounded their opponents 65-51.
The Giants offered only meek resistance from captain Jason Schielke, 13 points, and point guard Chris Bonato, 12 points.
Hornets coach Steve Bruce said he had enjoyed the Hornets' play in the third quarter.
"I set the boys the challenge at half time of keeping the Giants to 10 points for the third quarter," he said. "We kept them to 13 points but I couldn't complain, the third quarter was great to watch."
The two sides played a scrappy first quarter and Hornets fans held their collective breath midway through the term when Skurrie fell heavily after being fouled by Giants forward Jonathan Hill when attempting to dunk the ball.
The reckless act winded Skurrie and Hall was given an unsportsmanlike foul and was lucky not to be ejected.
Skurrie was able to pick himself up and take his free-throws.
Former Hornets coach Barry McTaggart, seated courtside, angrily yelled at the match referees to eject Hall, calling his foul an act of `tunnelling'.
The Hornets entered the match with only eight players because Mark Dorward was unavailable and juniors Jordan Duncan, Mitch Creek and Riley McFarlane had Victorian Country state team training to attend.
"I can't remember a time when the Hornets have had only had eight players for a home game," Steve Bruce said. "We have had eight players a few times for away games. It was good for a young guy like Danny Kennedy to get 10 minutes out on court. We also got Matt Lovel a good 20 minutes on court. The minutes will help those two a lot."
The Hornets have almost three weeks until their next match because of a bye and the Easter weekend.
The next match will be at Warragul on April 18. The Hornets' next home match will be against Chelsea on May 9.
Results: Horsham Hornets 111 (S. Bruce 26 points, D. Skurrie 23, T. Pickert 19, B. New 20 rebounds) d Darebin Giants 53 (J. Schielke 13, C. Bonato 12) at Horsham Basketball Stadium.
NUNAWADING Spectres guard Shane McDonald almost had a triple- double in the Spectres' 81-79 loss to the Canberra Gunners in Canberra on Saturday night.
McDonald, of Horsham, had 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in 44 minutes on court.