Sport
1 February, 2024
Hornets Men draw off last year's semi-final defeat
The Hornets' men host Portland on Saturday at the Horsham Basketball Stadium in the semi-final of the Country Basketball League.
After losing the semi-final to Mt Gambier last year, the Hornets are spurred on to win the championship this season.
The Hornets enter the finals series on the back of two close two-point wins against Warrnambool and Millicent on January 20 and 21.
Boasting the league's best player in Austin McKenzie and an abundance of youth and a lot of avenues to goal, they are a potent team.
If McKenzie doesn't fire, Cody Bryan, Mitch Martin or Matthew Brown will. Bryan has evolved this season and finished fourth on the leading scorers table with 262 points.
Cody Bryan, Mitch Martin, Max Bryan, Ryan Pfitzner, Matt Lovel, Fred Frew and Jake Hobbs are all present from the 2022 championship win against Portland.
Captain Mitch Martin said last season's loss has pushed them.
"It's pushed us a lot and we learned a lot from it," he said.
"Now we are in the same position and we have a home final, and if we win, a home Grand Final which will be massive.
"Portland is a great team. They have beaten us twice and we know we have to come out to play."
Martin emphasised the crowd as another important factor on Saturday.
"Horsham can bring the support and pack out the stadium and we are hoping for that on Saturday," he explained.
"It gets buzzing in here, especially when a few have a bit to drink and they are good to us and there is no doubt we have the best crowd in the league.
"We don't feel pressure. We thrive on it and we want everyone to come and cheer us on."
Portland has beaten the Hornets both times this year. The first time the Hornets suffered an eight-point loss away and recently a one-point loss at home after they were leading by 16 points at half-time.
When asked what they need to do to beat Portland, Martin said they need to play four quarters.
"We had a good lead on them last time but we shut off and thought we had it done," he said.
"They are a quality team but finals is a different game. We have to come out and play.
"It's more on us. For two years we have had pretty much the same team and we know each other well. It's going to be exciting."
Martin highlighted they don't rely solely on McKenzie.
"He is the best player in the league but we don't rely on him," he said.
"We have other good players that can shoot 10 to 15 points which makes us a damaging team. If they shut him down we have four others that can score."
A pattern this year is that the Hornets tend to come out of the blocks slowly. In five matches this year they have trailed at quarter time, and most recently in their last two matches against Warrnambool and Millicent, they trailed by 8 and 12 points respectively.
Whilst they have come back in those matches to win, in a high-pressure final, against a strong Portland team, they can't afford to start slow, especially after a week's break.
Martin said they just need to train better at the start.
"We aren't trying to come out slow. We just need to get around each other and getting up and about," he said.
"We are getting excited and I can promise you that come tip-off, we will be ready to go. Good teams find a way to win."
Coach Scott Benbow said they have a plan.
"We have been training hard the last couple of weeks and watched the game tape and we have some ideas," Benbow said.
"Expect to see a lot of zone. We won't let them dictate the play. We have to be aggressive at it first up and back it with pace and play to our strengths."
Mt Gambier host Warrnambool in the other semi-final.