Game 12 was built to be an epic for the Sovereign Knights with a win against the second placed Hornets galvanising their chances to reach the post season in their first franchise year.

It has been said “with big games comes big names” and this was true as the Sovs welcomed back their favourite son Chunka from his devastating mid-season ankle injury. Coach Matt Lee was delighted with the return of his defensive magnate and could not wipe the smile of his face during the pre-game warm up.

With Simon experiencing transportation issues it allowed quick hand Azz to start in the backcourt with Alex for possibly the first time this season. The 3, 4 and 5 positions were held by Mark, Chunka and Ro in what looked a very impressive starting line-up on paper.

Ro lost the tip-off to the lanky No. 5 from the Hornets who would cause further troubles for the Sovs later in the game with his sheer hight and shooting touch.

Regardless the Sovs started out well applying their patented intense D to the opposition that prevented them from scoring down low early in the game. Yet again big man Ro was a dominant force in defence just glaring and daring the opposition to come inside his key.

The scoreboard remained close throughout the first half and with the arrival of the Pocket Rocket a sense of speed was added to the team as both Simon and Age ran the court with blistering speed.

The Sovs came into the half time break only 5 points down still with an intense thought of winning the game. Plans were made at the half for Mark to play a tight man D on Lanky who was the Hornets “go to” man, whilst the remainder of the team play a 2/2 zone.

The new D set-up worked effectively early with the ball being turned over in the early parts of the second half, but the Sovs couldn’t capitalise as many ugly passes were thrown and poor dribbling turned the ball back over to the opposition. Disgusted with his performance Alex dragged himself from the court to regather his thoughts.

After a brilliant effort defensively Mark appeared gutted and like a man searching for a mirage in the dessert and handed his duties to Blondie. With the change in the defensive structure the Sovs looked confused with a lack of understanding in their positions.

This allowed the Hornets to grab the game by it’s horns and control the tempo of the game, scoring at ease and placing the Sovs offence under some of the best defence seen to date this year.

After what was a closely fought first half the Hornets ran away with a 44-23 victory and possibly crushing the Sovs dreams of a first year finals birth.