ONE of the most dramatic and hyped seasons in Horsham Hornets' history has reached its climax. The Hornets are now only one game away from the Big V basketball league division three championship.

Their opponents, McKinnon Cougars, will not give in easily but the chance to sweep the best of three series and do it in front of a `packed to the rafters' Horsham crowd is what the Hornets want.

Hornets coach Barry McTaggart said his side planned to have a strong start when it took the floor tomorrow night. "We have been slow starters for much of the season," McTaggart said. "But in the playoffs we have had some really good starts. We need to get out early like we did in game two of our semi-final series against Western Port."

One thing the Hornets want to avoid is losing tomorrow night and having to play a winner-takes-all decider on Sunday afternoon.

"We want to get the game done on Saturday night," McTaggart said. "We don't want a game-three decider."

The Hornets also have to run the ball more in game two. "We didn't get many opportunities to get out on the fast break in game one," McTaggart said. "We usually score a lot of easy points from fast breaks and we really want to do that in game two.

"Cam Bruce is usually the main driver of our running game because he gets the ball up the court so quickly. He was ill during game one so I think he will be much better in game two."

Bruce has been on antibiotics this week but McTaggart expects him to be ready to play by game day. "I think Cam should be okay by game time," he said.

Bruce, along with his brother Shaun, will have the tough defensive job on Cougars shooter Michael Yialas, who scored 36 points including seven three- pointers the last time he played at Horsham Stadium.

McTaggart said star guard Liam Norton was moving well after playing on a rolled ankle in game one and would be at full fitness for game two.

The Hornets restricted the Cougars to 79 points in game one and McTaggart said the Hornets aimed to do it again. "To keep them down to 79 points was a good effort," McTaggart said. "If we do that again then it will take us a long way towards winning the game."

McTaggart also questioned whether the Cougars had the firepower to keep with the Hornets.

"We have six players who are capable of scoring 20 points in a game. I don't think they have that many scorers. In game one we killed them in bench scoring, 38 points to seven. We need to do that again in game two," McTaggart said.