THE Hamilton Hurricanes took a big step forward, putting up three competitive quarters against Warrnambool in their Country Basketball League (CBL) round 10 clash on Saturday night.

It was always going to be a tough trek down south for the Hamilton team, but the visitors started positively, defending well and restricting the Seahawks to just 18 points for the first quarter, while putting up 11 points at the other end.

The second term was similar, with the Hurricanes scoring 12 points to 18, as the home side took a 13-point lead into the main break.

The first half performance would have kept the visitors’ confidence levels high, but the team has often let games slip in the third quarter.

Unfortunately for the visitors, that trend continued at the Warrnambool Stadium, with the Seahawks grabbing complete control of the game and putting up 26 points, while the Hurricanes could only manage nine points, putting the victory beyond reach for Hamilton.

Despite that, the Erik Valka-led side bounced back and fought out the contest, scoring 16 points to match Warrnambool’s output in the final quarter, but trailed 48-78 when the final buzzer sounded.

Josh Miller continued his impressive season, putting up a team-high 10 points for the Hurricanes, while Joel Le Roy was the only other player to score more than six points, finishing the game with nine.

The Hurricanes will now refocus ahead of their last game of 2023, when they travel to Colac to take on the Kookas on Sunday.

The two teams faced off earlier this month with the Kookas putting together a 25 points to eight quarter to overrun the Hurricanes and win by two points in double overtime at HILAC.

The Hamilton side will have learnt plenty from that clash and will go into the game hoping to reverse that result and claim a second win of the season.