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Matthew Lanzi led the way for Chelsea in the win with 15 points, as the Hornets have now put together back-to-back wins. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – Chelsea’s boys basketball team has had an up-and-down season, but the Hornets are now finally getting healthy, which makes them a dangerous opponent to face and on Monday, Dec. 17, we saw why.

In a tightly contested game, Chelsea was able to hit some late baskets and made 10 of its 11 free throws in the final quarter to pull away for a 58-47 victory against the Gardendale Rockets.

The two teams played evenly early on in the contest with Chelsea (5-9) taking the advantage at the end of the opening period thanks to eight points from Matthew Lanzi.

His response came after the Hornets fell behind 5-0 early on. Chelsea eventually battled back to find themselves in front 13-10 late in the quarter after Daniel Washington hit a basket to give his team a three-point lead, but a basket at the buzzer cut that to 13-12 at the end of the period.

Chelsea continued a balanced start in the second quarter posting 13 more points behind four different scorers, but the Hornets went just 4-8 from the free throw line.

Gardendale on the other hand was able to go 6-6 at the line and hit three 3-pointers to post 15 points, which gave the Rockets a 27-26 lead at the half.

Coming out of the halftime break, it was obvious the two teams were focused on improving their defensive effort, which led to a low-scoring period.

Chelsea, however, was able to get two big 3-pointers from Jacob Tierney and KJ Hall to outscore the Rockets 9-7 in the frame, which led to another one-point lead change as the Hornets went to the final quarter up 35-34.

That closely contested game continued throughout the fourth quarter, as Chelsea held a 41-40 lead with five minutes to go.

Then a key series of events happened.

Chelsea got three offensive rebounds on one possession before Robert Marquet was able to kick it out to Hall for a 3-pointer to put the Hornets up by four.

On the ensuing defensive possession, Holton Smith pressured Clayton Cunningham and forced a turnover, which led to a Marquet layup and a quick six-point advantage.

Gardendale was able to get back within four points on one occasion, but Chelsea eventually was able to put the game away at the free throw line in the final minutes as the Rockets couldn’t overcome the deficit.

Chelsea was led by Washington with 15 points, while Lanzi added 14 for two double-digit scorers in the win. Hall finished with nine points thanks to 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc. In all, the Hornets had seven players score in the game, all of whom had at least four points.

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