It’s been a long wait for the Hundred Hornets boys’ basketball team to play their second game of the season after dropping 100 points in their season opener against Jefferson Christian back on Dec. 12. Since then they have missed out on games with West Greene, Madonna, and Jefferson Morgan. They haven’t been able to practice much either, as the winter weather has put a damper on winter sporting events as of late.

However, the Hornets did get to play in a holiday tournament at Wirt County, Dec. 29-30. In the opener of the tournament, Hundred Head Coach Justin Balwanz didn’t know what to expect after 17 days without any competition. And after holding their own for two-and-a-half periods, the Hornets had a bad quarter where they couldn’t buy a basket, let a lone haul in any rebounds, and fell behind by 45-25 after only scoring five points and giving up 21 points to Midland Trail

However, the Hornets got back to the basics and made a game of it before falling, 62-39.

“We just had a bad game where we couldn’t put the ball into the basket and haul in rebounds,” said coach Balwanz. “We showed how resilient we are, rebounding from a loss to getting a win the following night.”

No Hornet player hit in double figures and they didn’t have but one player dish out an assist. They only had nine rebounds in the game.

Hornet Jesse “James” Gorby paced the Hornets with eight points, while hauling in a pair of rebounds, while Emery Smith, Dalton Kuhn, and Jesse Tedrow each tallied six points. Kuhn did hit a basket from beyond the arc, while Smith and Tedrow hauled in the other seven rebounds.

Other Hornets tacking on points included, Mitch Moore with five, including a basket from beyond the arc, while Logan McDiffitt and Zach Phillips each with four points.

*****

After dropping their opener in the Wirt County Tournament, the Hornets pulled together and put together a nice game against Buffalo Putnam, winning 63-45.

After falling behind 11-9 after the first eight minutes of play, the Hornets clawed their way back into the game by applying defensive pressure, creating turnovers, and out scoring Buffalo, 25-12 to take the lead, 34-23 at the break.

Hundred didn’t miss a beat in the third period and walked away with the victory.

After not having a player hit in double figures, the Hornets had three in this one. Kuhn drilled a game-high 20 points, including four trifectas, while Smith and Gorby combined for 25 points and 16 rebounds. Phillips and McDiffitt, healing from the injuries suffered from football, regained some mobility and added eight and seven points, respectively. Moore tallied a basket from beyond the arc, while Tyrell Watson netted a basket. McDiffitt, Kuhn, and Watson each responded with four rebounds, while Phillips hauled in six.

After making only two three pointers in game one the Hornets tallied seven in game two, while hauling in 32 rebounds from nine in the opener.

“We played excellent defense, forcing numerous turnovers in the two middle periods,” said Balwanz.

“If we can feed off our mistakes and get better with every game, we should be all right the rest of the season.”