Pine Bluffs Hornet Brad Haug gets the ball off despite the defensive efforts of Burns Bronc Trever Romsa during Saturdays game.

The Pine Bluffs Hornets swarmed the Morrill Lions at the Hornets’ Nest Friday sending them home with a stinging 53-46 defeat. On Saturday their fortune wasn’t as good when they headed to Burns and got trampled 57-37.

“At Morrill we got out to a fast start with a 24 to 8 lead,” said coach Pat Walter. “From there we seemed to lose any intensity we had. I am not sure if they were looking ahead to the conference game the next day or if they just assumed they could put it in cruise control and still win. Either way Morrill did a great job of battling back to make it a close game for most of the second half.”

Walter credited the shooting of Lion, J. Ramirez, for a huge part of the Lion comeback attempt. Ramirez was five for 10 on treys.

“We got good scoring from our posts and were aggressive getting to the rim, which resulted in us shooting a pile of free throws,” Walter said. “We made just enough of those free throws down the stretch to secure a win.”

Three of five Hornets hit in double digits. Lane Nusbaum notched a double-double with the game high 19 points and by nabbing 10 boards. Brad Haug contributed 12 points and JC Thurin connected for 11 in the effort.

“The Burns game was a completely different story as we struggled to get anything going offensively for the entire game,” Walter said. “Burns’ aggressive style of play put us on our heels at times and didn’t allow too many easy shots.”

Walter said the first canto contained a handful of point blank putbacks that the Hornets failed to score on.

“We had one 2-point field goal for the entire first half,” Walter said. “We fought foul trouble for most of the game and had to rely on some younger or less experienced kids. I thought these kids did a great job of stepping into a tough situation and performing admirably. In the fourth quarter we ran out of gas some and with our continued offensive struggles couldn’t make a run to keep pace with a bit of a scoring outburst from Burns.”

Taylor Fornstrom took the high scorer honors against the Broncs with 10 points. Brady Lamb and Thurin each added eight to the board. Nusbaum was hot under the board for a second night, coming away with 10 rebounds.

“Going forward we realize we need to work on being a more physical team, handling pressure better and improve some of our decision making in the open court,” Walter said.

On Friday, the Hornets get to show how well they learned the lesson when they travel to Kimball. Then on Saturday, the Hornets’ Nest will be the site of a contest with the Hornets and the Lingle-Ft. Laramie Doggers.

Individual weekend stats

Points — Lane Nusbaum 20, Brad Haug 12, JC Thurin 11, Taylor Fornstrom 19, Brady Lamb 10, Bryant Geouge 5, Scott Gross 4

Rebounds — Nusbaum 20, Haug 6, JC Thurin 14, Fornstrom 7, Lamb 10, Gross 10, Preston Thurin 1, Geouge 7, Scott Coverdale 3

Steals — Nusbaum 2, Haug 1, JC Thurin 2, Fornstrom 3, Gross 1, Coverdale 1, Lamb 2

Assists — Haug 1, JC Thurin 4, Fornstrom 4, Lamb 2, Coverdale 4, Nusbaum 1