Boys' JV Beats Toledo Christian, Advances to 3-0 for Season

From Hawkblog special correspondent Portia Ash.

In the first league game of the season, the boys' JV was victorious over the Toledo Christian Eagles, beating the Eagles 50 to 39. The Hawks won behind superb play and a hot shooting hand by guard AJ King who finished the night with a season high 28 points.

There was not a part of the floor that didn't agree with King; AJ missed only a hand full of shots in roughly four quarters of play. AJ for 3, AJ drives to the basket, AJ hits a jumper and gets and AND 1, you get the picture.

While the game started out a little slow and the score was close through the 3rd quarter with the Hawks up by just four points, 16 to 12, to begin the 3rd quarter. AJ hit a three from the top of the key to move the Hawks to 19 and followed with a second three to advance the Hawks to 22-14. The Hawks then entered into a period of a few fouls and turnovers, but never relinquished their lead ending the quarter leading the Eagles by 13 points up 32-19.

Free throws allowed the Eagles to continue to hang around in the fourth quarter, pulling them within 8 of the Hawks with 4 minutes remaining in the 4th.

But the Hawks prevailed by executing their offense, playing team defense and hitting free throws down the stretch. In one sequence, Collins takes the inbound pass from Woodward and hit for 2. In another sequence, after a missed free throw, Collins chases down the rebound and passes the ball to Woodard, who dishes to Collins as he cuts to the basket along the baseline. Collins then passes to Okeke right under the basket, but the rim is not kind and the ball bounces out. In the next sequence the Hawks set up their offense and with the 5th and final pass, Woodard fakes to the outside, loses his man and goes back down the baseline for 2. On a defensive sequence, a steal by Collins led to a layup with an AND1 opportunity for AJ.

Marcus Knabbs put the icing on the cake, hitting 2 free throws to put the Hawks up 50 -36 with just a few seconds left in the game.

Up next, the Hawks hit the road in another league game on Friday against the Ottawa Hills Bears. Go Hawks!

Scoring: King 28, Collins 7, Woodard 7, Okeke 6, Knabbs 2

Editors $.02 - Great game by AJ, who looked like he had an extra gear on the court tonight.  This marks two years of JV victories against TC, boding well for the future.  The team played aggressive defense through the entire game.