OROVILLE – The Oroville Hornets Boys Basketball team had mixed results on the road in league play last week, winning one and losing one.

The Hornets travelled to Liberty Bell on Tuesday, Jan. 5 and brought home a 54 to 31 victory. In the first quarter Oroville jumped out to an early 12-point lead and built the lead up by another five points in the second finishing the half ahead 31 to 14.

“It was a great team effort. I was proud of the hustle that our players showed. We did a great job attacking their defense with dribble penetration,” said Hornet Coach Carl Iverson.

The Lions continued to struggle against the Hornets in the third quarter and Oroville got another five points ahead. Liberty Bell matched Oroville pretty well in the final quarter and actually earned 11 points to the Hornets 10, but it wasn’t enough to come back from their double digit deficit.

Leading Oroville in points was Preston Iverson, followed by Brandon Funston and Zac Speiker with five each, Charlie DeMar-tino with four and Blaine Wagner with two.

“We shot 26 foul shots which means we attacked their defense constantly. I feel our team is getting better and I am really pleased with how coachable they are. They want to learn and improve every day,” said the coach.

It was a different story when Oroville went to Entiat and lost 45 to 55.

Oroville fell behind by 10 in the first and was trailing by 17 at the end of the half. The Tigers added another 10 to increase their lead to 27 in the third. Oroville’s effort increased in the final quarter and actually led Entiat in scoring 14 to 11.

“It was a very physical game, which really bothered us. They also had five different players hit three’s which was another key to their win. I know we will do better the next time we play them,” said Coach Iverson.

Preston Iverson again led the team with 13, followed by Spieker with 10, Hughes with eight, Funston with seven, DeMartino with four and Wagner with three.

“The size of Entiat made it so their rebounding was great and limited our dribble penetration. We attacked the basket, but didn’t get many fouls called on them. We didn’t even shoot a foul shot until there was five minutes left in the game. Usually we shoot about 21 foul shots per game,” said Iverson.