James Murphy
HORSHAM HORNETS 106 d MILLICENT MAGIC 85
A HOME game against Horsham Hornets has dealt Millicent Magic their third loss of the South West Men’s Country Basketball League season on Saturday night.
A strong start set up the result for the Hornets and Millicent coach Darren Dean said his team was unable to recover from there.
“They jumped us at the start and we weren’t able to get back into it,” he said.
“We were down by 20 probably in the first quarter and were able to get it back to within 10, but then they dragged it back out again.
“We never really got in the contest.”
A team up under the hoop from brothers Kade and Frazer Bradley led the way for the Magic, as the pair shot 25 and 24 points respectively.
Aidan Schultz was the only other double-figure scorer for Millicent, sinking 14 points on the night.
At the other end of the court, the Hornets had no trouble scoring big and they were dangerous both under the hoop and from long range.
“We had a bit of trouble containing Austin McKenzie,” Dean said.
“He played well and we had a number of guys we tried to play on him, but struggled to contain him.
“Cody Bryan got away from us a bit too.”
McKenzie topped the sheets with 31 points and was backed strongly by Bryan (20), Damien Skurrie (18) and Mitch Martin (17).
“We talked about their three-point shooting, which they seem to have picked up on over the last month,” Dean said.
“Unfortunately we didn’t go at that too well and I think they had seven threes in the first half.
“From our side we just couldn’t get much happening in offence and we struggled a bit at both ends of the court.”
Kade Bradley was a highlight for Millicent, with his defensive efforts equally as strong as his attacking.
“Kade was quite good,” Dean said.
“He scored and then ended up going to McKenzie and quietened him down a bit.
“He was probably our best player on the night.”
Dean was also pleased with some of the bench players on the night, who stepped up in the second half as Millicent tried some different combinations to limit Horsham.
“Aidan Schultz stepped up and Clint Gallio was good with his defence,” he said.
The Magic now sit fourth on the ladder heading into a couple of critical rounds.
“We are sitting in fourth, with a double-header this weekend and a game against Mount Gambier next weekend which is really going to determine where we are at,” Dean said.
“If we can get the two wins against Colac and Terang, that will set us up well for the Mount at home the following week.
“If we drop one of those it is going to put us right back in the pack.”
