Basketball
10 October, 2024
Horsham Hornets notch first win of 2024 season with come from behind win
Horsham rebounds after Millicent loss to defeat Ararat in CBL.
The Horsham Hornets notched its first win of the 2024 Country Basketball League season with a gritty, come-from-behind win against the Ararat Redbacks.
Playing its second road game of the weekend, Horsham defeated the Redbacks 79-71 thanks to 22 points from debutant Micah Livingstone.
Coach Scott Benbow said the four premiership points were all he cared about while it wasn't pretty.
"I wouldn't say it was fantastic, but it was a win," he said.
"Ararat is tough, so we're absolutely taking the win.
"We needed to win because we didn't play very well [on Saturday night]."
A day earlier, the Hornets endured one of the longest road trips of the season, playing against Millicent on October 5.
"We looked rusty and like we hadn't played together," Benbow said.
"While we were missing a couple of key players, we only shot four points in the first quarter."
"Everyone played a little bit out of position, and we were just undersized.
"We competed, but we gave them too much."
After the 85-65 loss, the squad made the 218km trip home, before backing it up on October 6 with a 95km trip to Ararat.
After a close 11-11 start, the home side pushed out the lead with an 11-4 run in the final four minutes of the quarter.
Horsham regrouped and pushed the tempo, scoring 25 points; however, some late shots before halftime gave the Hornets a narrow 39-38 lead.
"At half time, we thought we were getting there," Benbow said.
"We thought we'd get on top if we ran hard because they had seven players, so they were pretty gassed."
Despite holding the momentum, the Hornets struggled to score in the third quarter, allowing Ararat to establish a 59-56 point lead.
An alley-oop dunk from Josh Fiegert to Adan Wisby gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about; however, the Redbacks could not match the pace of the Hornets.
A three-point play from Livingstone gave the Horsham bench plenty to cheer about as he evened the score at 64-64, starting an 11-0 run by the visitors.
Despite Wisby's late shooting from behind the arc, Ararat ran out of steam.
Livingstone scored 11 points in the last quarter to finish with 22, while captain Mitch Martin scored 15.
Wisby scored 18 for Ararat, with Fiegert and Ethan Lindeblad adding 15 each.