HAWKS SOAR TO GLORY DAYS TITLE!

The Boys Varsity basketball team of Hayfield Secondary School continued its march back to prominence, with a convincing 11 point victory over their cross county opponents; McLean HS, in the Lake Braddock tournament championship game. The Hawks led for most of the game, falling behind on only two possessions through out the evening. This was a game of execution, defensive adjustment, and counter adjustment by the two head coaches. Oddly enough, the defenses that shouldn’t have impacted either team, did on this night, with the Highlanders of McLean employing a man defense, which confused the Hawks on 4 straight possessions late in the first half, closing their deficit to 4 points after 16 minutes. 

The Hawks returned the favor in the decisive 4th quarter, installing their disruptive 3-2 zone, which great distracted the McLean shooters, and forced them into tough shots, many unsuccessful. The Hawks received key contributions from their entire 15 man squad during this victory, their third of the Tourney, and their 8th in row overall.

The Hawks received an unexpected boost from reserve PG Brandon Lawson (16pts, 2rebs, 2stls) who has been recovering from a left knee sprain, and has only played sparingly in the last 3 games. Brandon set the tone early, burying 2 long range three pointers, and swiping a steal, which led to an easy layup for him as well. For his inspired play during the final, he received a selection (one of three Hawks selected) to the “All Tournament Team”. He was joined on that team by SG Tyler Seelman (11pts, 2rebs, 1blk), who came up with a key defensive play, blocking the three point attempt of the Highlanders 6-5 Pascoe during the decisive last 3 minutes. The third member of that trio, was SF Amir Atkins (17pts, 4rebs, 4stls), who also gained the tournaments’ MVP award, for averaging 16.3pts, 6rebs, 3stls / game over the last 3 days. 

Other key contributions included: 3 great assists from reserve G/F Alontae Kyle, who also played inspired defense, a clutch free throw made by senior Quentin Hutchinson in the 4th quarter, which made it a three possession contest, and Faris Gebril, who played good defense during the last few minutes, keeping the opponents off balance during their comeback attempts.

Throughout this 3 game tournament, every Hawk on the squad, made key contributions, all of them big ones, which led to the Hawks tournament title. The Hawks will be off for a few days, and then back to the hardwood, preparing for National District rival; Wakefield HS, on Friday January 4, 2013.