Hornets powerhouse Austin Basso drives through heavy traffic on the way to the hoop during a game against the Golden Eagles in last week’s Okana-Qen seniors boys basketball tournament at SOSS. Basso earned a tournament all-star award. Lyonel Doherty photo
Any time you can get six of your tournaments with eight teams ranking in the top 12 in the province, you have to be happy.
That is just what happened at last week’s 54th annual Okana-Qen senior boys basketball tournament as the Hornets hosted #1 Southridge, #3 Fulton, #10 Golden, #11 PAC and #12 GW Graham, along with Westsyde and Maggie Mustangs.
In the end #1 Southridge lived up to their ranking as they won the tournament with Golden placing 2nd.
As for the Hornets they played inconsistent ball, leading to 1-3 record which will most likely result in them dropping out of the rankings.
The Hornets started the tournament with a solid win over GW Graham of Chilliwack by a score of 78-71. After trailing by 7 at the half the Hornets were able to put together a solid 2nd half en route to the victory. Austin Basso led the Hornets with 21 points followed by Anmol Malhi who added 16 in the victory. Malhi was named player of the game.
In the second game the Hornets played #10 Golden, a game in which they never seemed to find their rhythm as they trailed the whole game. They did make a run in the 3rd to tie it up but some inconsistent play allowed Golden to take the victory 71-61. The Hornets were once again led by Basso who poured in 22 points, earning him player of the game honours, followed by Kulbir Grewal who added 17 points.
In their 3rd game the Hornets faced #1 Southridge in a very exciting contest. At the end of the first quarter the Hornets trailed by one, 20-19, and by half the Storm had pushed the lead to six, 33-27.
In the second half the Hornets could get no closer than 5 points as they had a mental letdown late in the 3rd quarter, allowing the Storm to take a 11-point lead to victory – 72-61. This game, even though it was a loss was the most consistent game the Hornets played in a while. Basso led the Hornets once again with 21 points followed by Kulbir Grewal with 17 and Gurshan Dhaliwal with 8 points. Grewal was named player of the game.
In their final game on Saturday the Hornets once again seemed out of sync as they were unable to generate much offence and they shot an abysmal 23 per cent from the 3-point line en route to a 58-56 loss. Basso had 23 points, earning a tournament all-star award. Anmol Malhi added 8 points in the loss.
The Hornets are off to Chilliwack for a tournament on December 11-13. On December 15 they will host Summerland at home; game time is 6:45 pm. The Hornets are 3-4 overall.
Mo Basso
Special to the Chronicle
