It was the second game for the Hawks 1st coming off a loss to Bedford the week prior the energy and efforts were increased to face the reigning champions North Herts Knights at Harlow Leisurezone. The game started out with Kostas, Sam Haley, Sam Watkins, Modupe and Josh Haddow, an early two scores from Knights kicked off the game with the Hawks’ Modupe and S.Waley returning fire to match a 4-4 start. Half way through the first quarter Modupe makes another 2 points to make it 6-6, with some substitutions and early foul trouble for the Knights, Hawks capitalised on this as Jack Hawkins converts 4 free throws, and Josh converting 2. Jack Aylott with some great footwork inside for another bucket allowed the hawks to finish the quarter up 14-10.
The second quarter started with another pretty bucket from J.Aylott but the Knights fought back into closing the gap 16-15. But the hawks energy picked up, J.Aylott making another basket and Kostas to make a nice lay to extend the lead by 5. The Knights in more foul trouble in the second allowed J.Hawkins to come back on and convert more free throws going 6/6 in the first half. Josh finished up the Hawks scoring with a 3pointer and 2 freethrows of his own to end the first half 27-22.
With the second half approaching Hawks knew they had to continue pushing hard with defensive energy and team execution, with many new faces on the team the Hawks talent proved to be worthy against a solid team. The second half started with a nice soft floater from Coach Lee Morris to lead the team to a solid half. The Knights were not holding back as they returned out the gates with a scoring spree to take the lead 29-30, S.Watkins was there to answer, cashing in a 3 pointer with Josh to follow with another triple! With S.Watkins making another tough layup it took the Hawks back up by 5 at 37-32. As the third quarter was coming to a close Josh Haddow decides to put on a show posterising almost 2 of the Knights defenders. With more solid defensive efforts from the Hawks Phil Caleb came up with the ball and a quick pass to J.Hawkins to feed it to Josh cutting down the centre key, 1-2 step dunk! Play of the game with a disgusting poster and-1, the Hawks and the home crowd were exhilarated, what a play! The Knights had to call a timeout to stop the Hawks’ reckoning. After some more foul trouble for the Knights Josh and J.Hawkins were able to convert another 3 free throws in the third. J.Hawkins scores a cash 3 pointer from the top off of a screen and finishes a nice euro-step to close the action packed third quarter in favour of the Hawks 48-37, the largest lead.
The momentum was with us heading into the last quarter, Hawks wasn’t prepared to let this fall and repeat the Bedford game, we came with the energy and locked into the game. The quarter started with everybody making the scoresheet, Kurshan kicked off the quarter with a nice jump shot, Kostas to follow, Hawkins to put in a free-throw, Josh to make a jump shot and S.Haley to match a jump shot, the Hawks came out firing although they found themselves in quick foul trouble, a get out of jail card for the opposition. The lead stood at 57-39 with 5 minutes remaining, the Knights converted many free throws and an and-1 play, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Hawks away, J.Hawkins got another pretty euro-step through traffic and a free-throw leading into the final minutes. J.Aylott wasn’t finished with the fancy footwork and scores another bucket. Hawks were putting the Knights on the line, but it wasn’t enough even scoring 8 free-throws in the quarter. J.Hawkins puts a stop to their last bit of hope with another 3-pointer to put the hawks at 65-49, in the final minutes the Hawks could slowly breathe some winning sighs of relief as Coach Morris puts up a final 3 to add insult to injury putting the hawks final score to 68-53.
The Hawks had won it, a great action-packed game showcasing a snippet of what the Hawks have to offer this season, onto the next one!
Written By:- J.Hawkins
