Raucous Crowd Spurs Hawks to 11^th Straight Win

     Friday the 13^th turned out to be a good day, as the Boys Varsity Seniors were honored on senior night, and won their 11^th game in a row, 7^th in conference (vs. zero losses), to capture the regular season Liberty Conference crown. The MVP’s on Friday night were definitely our fans, led by our loyal student body, who dressed in various costumes to show their school spirit. The student body’s plan on Friday night was to wait until Hayfield scored their 15^th point, before cheering. When Dalon Thomas (6pts) dropped in the first basket in the second quarter, they erupted, and began the comeback vs. the Generals of W&L HS.

    While not playing their best over the first 16 minutes, the Hawks none the less, led by 2 points at halftime, after being down a point after the 1^st quarter. The Hawks couldn’t get the offense going, but played solid defense for the most part, limiting the Generals to 9 points in the 2^nd quarter. When the crowd got going, it definitely lifted the spirits of the Hawks, playing in front of their biggest crowd since the Tip-Off Classic vs. Montrose Christian (#5 in Md).

    Returning to the hardwood for the second 16, didn’t immediately revive the Hawks, but then they slowly regained their swagger, as C Eliet Donley (20pts, 15rebs, 3asts) began to assert his presence. Donley continuously flashed to the high post, where Hayfield ran the offense through him. Donley did a majority of his damage at the charity stripe, connecting on 8 of 11 in the second half (10-13 overall). He paced the Hawks with 16 of their 35 second half points.

   Assisting Donley in the 2^nd half resurrection, was reserve Sr. PG Kyle Phox (7pts, 2stls, 5dflctns), who scored 5 of his 7 overall points in the pivotal 4^th quarter, including a crowd pleasing 3 pointer (Hayfield’s only one of the night), which he splashed from the left corner, nearest the student body. That shot, and the immediate response of the multi-costumed fans, spurred the Hawks towards victory. Also in on the 4^th quarter heroics, was Sr. SF Muharrim Haque (8pts, 3stls), who chipped in with two lay-ups, and spirited defense in the final few minutes. The only underclassman to see court time last night was Jr. SF Aaron Jeter (1reb, 1ast), in only his 4^th game back from injury, came in to spell several seniors in the 4^th. He also tallied one of the Hawks 13 total assists. In the end, the Hawks were too much for the Generals, who fought a spirited fight, and gave the Hawks all they could handle.

   Notable contributions: PG Daquan Poindexter passed former PG Tyler Thornton in total assists in a season during Coach Poindexter’s tenure, gaining his 88^th assist during last night’s game. Daquan is averaging 4 assists per game this season. Going into last night’ s game Muharrim Haque and Eliet Donley were #’s 1 & 2 in Free Throw Percentage in the Liberty Conference, while Tyler Hodge was 2^nd in 3PT% at 38%. Hodge also added to his in-conference FT%, where he is at 71% on the season, 13% over his total FT% for the season. Donley coming into last night’s game was leading the Liberty Conference in scoring, with 18.3 pts/game (now at 18.5 with his 20 last night). Hayfield is now 13-1 in the Liberty Conference regular season over the last two seasons.