The Hawken Hawks and NDCL Lions Boys Basketball teams met on the hardwood for the second time this season on March 1 at North Ridgeville High School for an opportunity to win an OHSAA District Title.
Game photos click here.
The Hawken Hawks and NDCL Lions Boys Basketball teams met on the hardwood for the second time this season on March 1 at North Ridgeville High School for an opportunity to win an OHSAA District Title.
Earlier in the season, these same two teams met at Hawken on Jan. 11 with the Lions prevailing, 58-56.
In that matchup, the Lions made a late game comeback and were able to get crucial defensive stops down the stretch in order to get the win.
In the March 1 game — with a District Title and a trip to the Regional Semifinals at Bowling Green State University on the line — the Hawks claimed a 52-51 victory.
Afterwards, Hawken Head Coach Anthony Burns talked about leading the Hawks to the District Title.
“It’s an amazing feeling, we haven’t been this far in Hawken history in over 35 years,” Coach Burns said. “So right now, these boys are making history, and I’m just proud to be their coach and proud to witness what they’re doing.”
Added junior Greg Price: “This means everything.”
He continued: “I have been playing with some of them (teammates) since 6th or 7th grade, and it kind of means it all to come here, especially the road we chose. We chose to get Ursuline first round, they were the No. 1 team in our region. It just means it all to come out here with my brothers and be able to do what people didn’t think we could do.”
In order to defeat the Lions, junior Daron Hill said that the Hawks’ game plan was critical to their success.
“Our game planning for this game was very crucial,” said Hill. “I feel like coming into the game we were very prepared. We watched a lot of film on these guys, and we just worked hard.”
From the opening tip both teams showed they were well prepared for this contest.
The first quarter saw the Lions take an early 14-13 first quarter lead.
In the second quarter, the Lions extended their lead to two points as they went into halftime leading 25-23.
Price said that the Hawks were not surprised that it was a close game from the start. He emphasized that in playoff basketball, that is what is to be expected.
“This is the playoffs, so everything is going to be hard, it’s going to be high level and that’s what NDCL showed,” said Price. “We played NDCL earlier in the year, we lost by two. It kind of shows you the level of play it is when you’re playing in the playoffs.”
Hill said that Coach Burns’ message to the team at halftime was to keep playing with a high level of intensity, play smart, and keep playing together.
After halftime, the game remained close as the Hawks outscored the Lions 12-10 in the the third quarter to even the game at 35-35 heading into the final quarter.
Much like the previous matchup earlier in the season, the game ended in dramatic fashion.
With 12.5 seconds left in the game, and the Hawks trailing 51-50, Hawks senior point guard Jordan Johnson was inbounding the ball from the left forecourt.
As the play started, Hill, starting close to the left elbow, quickly made a diagonal cut through the lane and got open for a split second as moved toward the basket.
Johnson alertly saw his teammate get open on the drive to the hoop and made a perfect pass to Hill over the top of the defense.
The Lions defense quickly recovered to contest Hill’s shot. Hill, though, was able to beat the defender by an instant and use his left hand to bank the basketball in off the glass using the top right corner of the square to perfection.
Hill’s game winning shot gave the Hawks a 52-51 victory.
For the game, the Hawks were led offensively by Hill (15 points), Price (14), Ice Taylor (10), Charlie Mallett (6), Johnson (4), Jacob Stovsky (2) and Kene Obi (1).
The Lions were led by Connor Hernan (14 points), Angelo Tamburrino (13), Brendan Hernan (13), Ryan Lipowski (6), Brendan Sawitke (3) and Luke Keep (2).
The Hawks will now travel to Bowling Green State University on March 6th to take on the Elida Bulldogs in the OHSAA Regional Semifinals.
ALAN KORNSPAN/KMG
Hawken’s Jordan Johnson cuts down the net as the Hawks win 52-51 win over NDCL in the OHAA District Title game.
