A slow start hurt the Princess Margaret Mustangs senior boys basketball team Wednesday.
The Mustangs hosted the South Okanagan School Hornets.
The Hornets jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back in a 74-50 win over the Mustangs in AA Okanagan basketball league action.
Mustangs coach Raj Dhillon said turnovers hurt them as they were also without two of their starters.
Trailing by more than 20 points late in the third quarter, the Mustangs continued to push and managed to keep the score within 20 with a few offensive runs.
Dhillon said that is part of the consistency issues they are dealing with.
“We have to keep trusting each other,” he said. “When that happens we will be perfectly fine.”
The Hornets shot a lot, especially when given the space. They were also aggressive in grabbing rebounds. Leading the Hornets in scoring was Gurkamal Dhaliwal with 16 points.
Dhillon liked how his team finished, showing intensity and fight. There were also signs of good passing. However, Dhillon still wants his starters to be more aggressive.
Mustangs guard Jas Sahota said the challenge is the Hornets physical presence, but said there is another area they need to improve.
“We still have some kinks in our offence to work on,” said Sahota, who led the Mustangs with 13 points. “It’s not a big deal that we lost.”
He said it’s part of the learning curve but said they could have executed better on offence.
“I’m not worried at all about this,” said Dillon, who thinks his players might have been a little intimidated by the Hornets. “We have the potential to be great. You are going to get what you put in.”
The Mustangs’ other top scorers were Gary Chahal with 12 points and Kohl Linder with 10.
This weekend the Mustangs will travel to Rutland for a tournament. Dillon just wants to see his players build trust and make the extra pass.
