Horsham Hornets won game one of their Big V basketball league semi- final series 104-98 against the Western Port Steelers on Saturday night at Western Port.

Despite building up a 15-point lead at three-quarter time the Hornets went cold early in the fourth quarter, missing a number of lay-ups before star guard Liam Norton took over the game to lead his team home in the final minutes.

Norton fought off every challenge from the Steelers' defence to score free-throws and jump-shots, silencing the boisterous home crowd.

"I just really, really wanted to win the game," Norton said. "We were struggling to make shots but I didn't want to lose. So I decided to do something about it.

"I had an ordinary match last week and wanted to do better this week."

Norton finished with a game-high 35 points.

Hornets coach Barry McTaggart said he was relieved to win.

"It was vital we won this game," McTaggart said. "But we still have to do the job at home next week.

"Liam is a class act. He just took over the game."

The Hornets came out of the blocks cold and trailed by 15 points in the second quarter.

But they lifted their defensive pressure and took the lead at half time on five late points from Mitch Creek.

The Hornets took control of the game in the third quarter and took a 15-point lead of their own powered by a flurry of baskets from Shaun Bruce.

In a fiery final quarter frustrated Steelers big man Kevin Benn was ejected from the game after lashing out at Hornets forward Marcus Wright. Benn left the game with 11 points, 23 rebounds and 10 turn-overs.

Despite playing without their three best players the Steelers got to within four points of the Hornets in the final minute but Norton kept the game in the Hornets' favour, scoring a pull-up jump-shot to ice the game.