Promising Defense Falls Short 49-44 in Closing Moments

A Balanced attack and an aggressive defense were factors in maintaining a very close and competitive game.  However, the deciding moments that occurred during the last few possessions of every quarter altered the outcome in Langley’s favor.

During the first quarter the Hawks’ man to man defense challenged Langley at every possession. The Hawks disrupted their low post game by rotating and switching coverage on their full and half-court defense. This limited Langley to score with their outside jump shots. At the same time, the Hawks capitalized on their interior offense to end the quarter with a 12-12 tie.

The second quarter, the Hawks boldly opened with five new players in search of additional energy to spark the offense. They systematically looked for opportunities to penetrate the tight 2-3 zone defense Langley defended the goal with. However, more of the same format continued as both teams played solid defense and limited their opponents’ scoring opportunities. The memorable differences were Hawk’s mistakes and missed layups as time expired to give Langley a 25-20 lead to end the quarter.

During the third quarter, Langley took advantage of early turnovers to pad their lead 30 to 22. Soon after, the young Hawks regrouped and refocused.  They ran up 10 unanswered points to tie the game 32-32 after 5 minutes 15 seconds of play. However, with less than 1 second on the clock, Langley made a “Hail Mary” half-court shot to end the quarter ahead 37-34.

Early in the fourth quarter both teams’ alternated baskets and continued to play tough defense that forced turnovers which resulted in scoring opportunities. On one occurrence the Hawks took their only lead 42-41 after 4 minutes of play.  As the clock ticked away, Hawks committed back to back turnovers that enabled Langley to take the lead and capture the game 49-44. Although the result was not in favor of the Hawks, it showed many promising skills that they have learned. The team is now playing better individual and team defense at the same time they are looking for better and high percent shot opportunities in offense.  As a result, measurable improvements are incrementally showing. With this in mind, we hope to continue to move forward to close out the season strong — Hawk Strong -- GO HAWKS!

Stats of the Game:

1. Jay Cole led with 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 turnovers
2. DaVon Beckford had 6 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers
3. William Douglass had 4 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 turnovers
4. Ja’eon Cureton played hard
5. Jack Ryan had 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 turnovers
6. Ryan Rush DID NOT PLAY
7. Jacob Keeney had 1 rebound, 1 turnover
8. Edwin  Adjare had 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal
9. Carrington Brox had 6 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assist, 3 steals, 1 turnover
10.  Logan Dickinson had 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 turnovers
11. Kareem Hamaduche DID NOT PLAY
12. Jack Blevins had 2 points, 2 rebounds, 5 turnovers, 2 assists
13.  Tanner Murray – did not play – injured