Published: November 07, 2007 10:52 pm      

Hornets not happy with scrimmage

Huntsville falls to Stratford, tops Magnolia in three-team workout

MAGNOLIA — The look on Drae Murray’s face Wednesday was not as long as the one he wore following the Hornets’ season-ending loss to Beaumont Ozen earlier this year. It was close.

With a scowl, Murray said he didn’t like the way the Hornets played during their first basketball scrimmage of the new season. Huntsville lost to Stratford 25-18 in one half, then the Hornets beat Magnolia 27-13 in the second 20-minute period of Wednesday’s three-team scrimmage.

When the teams played regular eight-minute quarters, the Hornets let Stratford rally for a 13-12 win, then they closed out the scrimmage with a tight 13-11 victory over the host Bulldogs.

Murray said he realized Wednesday’s workout was just that, a workout. But he was far from impressed by the Hornets’ performance in the first of two scrimmages.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Murray, the Hornets’ lone returning starter from last season’s team that went 30-3 and reached the Region III semifinals of the Class 4A playoffs.

“There weren’t too many good things out there tonight,” Huntsville’s talented point guard added. “It was good for us to go against somebody else and see what we’ve got to do before our first real game Tuesday.”

Before the Hornets tip off the 2007-08 season at Tomball next week, coach Doug Anderson said they must address some of the areas that were severely lacking Wednesday.

The Hornets have to clamp down defensively and play the smothering style that helped them win a district championship in 2006-07 and advance to the fourth round of the postseason.

Huntsville also has to take better care of the ball. Against the Spartans and Bulldogs, the Hornets made too many silly mistakes, forcing passes and trying to do too much with the ball. Those mistakes, Anderson noted, could be chalked up as preseason lapses in judgment, but there’s an even more critical area where the Hornets showed a weakness Wednesday.

In 56 minutes of basketball (the 20-minute halves were played with a running clock), the Hornets missed 21 shots within five feet of the basket. Most of the missed shots were layups, which Anderson pointed out, cost Huntsville 42 points.

“It was unbelievable how many layups we missed,” Anderson said. “We were also trying to steal the ball too much instead of playing good, solid defense.”

For the night, Murray led the Hornets with 16 points, but he had eight turnovers, too. Junior post Kirby Ennis scored 11 points with four rebounds, while junior guard Justin Ennis added 10 points.

George Perry contributed nine points and four rebounds. Andrew Nichols, a newcomer to the Hornets’ program, had eight rebounds and three points. James McAdams added six points and three boards. Marcus Irving threw in four points with four rebounds.

“We’re a work in progress,” Anderson said, repeating the comment he made about his current team the day before its first scrimmage. “Our football guys have only been with us for a day or two. We’ll get two more days of practice in and hopefully we’ll show some improvement against Oak Ridge on Saturday.”

The Hornets host the War Eagles in a Saturday morning scrimmage starting at 10.