Hawks Can’t Make Enough Noise in Loss to Navarro, 59-56

Senior Sam Langford and other Hawks will need to dig deep as Season comes to a climax

Canyon Lake fell behind by 9 points in the first quarter and could not recover in their loss to first place Navarro, 59-56 in Friday’s night game at the Hawk Nest.

“We did some good stuff and this is a team that thrives in that 4th quarter,” Head Coach Lucas Chapman opened. “We beat them in the 4th but we need to play the whole game.”

Navarro had won their last game against the Hawks by blitzing CL turning a 1 point game to a 10 point win. In two other wins this season the Panthers had that same formula in wins over Wimberley and La Vernia.

The Hawks have a way of letting one quarter getting away and not playing at an energy level needed for completing contests.

Navarro came out of the chute with a 3pointer and CL was playing from behind for the remainder of this game.

In that first quarter the Hawks scored on a Rory Preiss shot in the paint and a 4-5 score, but by the time Canyon Lake would make their next shot the Panthers would be up 13-6 and helped sustain that momentum for a 9 point first quarter advantage.

The Hawks did respond in the second quarter outscoring Navarro 16-11 and making enough noise to be within 4 points at halftime.

But Navarro’s second half started much like that first quarter as the Panthers scored the first 6 points and had the first and only double digit lead, 34-24.

In past games, Canyon Lake would have never recovered, but this year the Hawks would get their act together and battle back.

Navarro milked their lead back to 9 points with just under seven minutes left in the contest, 46-37, and a quick 4 point run on a Will Gray drive and a Gray assist to Preiss, would get this game back to a two possession contest.

That Panther lead would stand up for the remainder of the evening until a 3 pointer from Jacob Ramirez as the clock ran out and Navarro escaped with a 3 point win.

Canyon Lake was led in scoring by Gray and Brandon Ward scoring 15 and 14 points respectfully.

Gray used his drive to get most of his points and then dishing off 4 assists to players like Ward who scored all of his points from the field behind the arc.

Preiss and Heath McDonough both finished with 9 rebounds as Preiss just missed another double-double by one for points and bounds.

The Hawks had other players like Sam Langford who came in for some extended time playing guard while scoring 5 points.

“We are good enough to beat these teams,” Senior Langford said. “We will need to beat Wimberley and not play at the same level and drop down…we are just not playing as good as we should.”

“We just need to play the whole game against every team just like we played Navarro tonight,” Langford closed.

With the loss of Justin Ferris, other players like Langford will be seeing more time. These players will need to respond as this set of games dwindles down to their final four for this campaign.

Yoakum, who is chasing CL for that last playoff spot, won their game and these two teams have a date on the last night of district contests.

Canyon Lake can make that scenario a mute point by winning either next week’s game with Wimberley or La Vernia.

CL’s next contest will be on the road this Tuesday in Cuero and a win will keep their heads above water as they race for a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

“We will go to practice and get ready for Cuero and Monday we are going to prepare for Wimberley,” Coach Chapman said.

A decent game with just 12 turnovers and 41 rebounds having 14 come on the offensive glass.

Canyon Lake has a chance of making some noise and now it will be time to see if this team will be getting out a clarinet or a Trombone.

Go Hawks!!

             1   2   3   4   Final
 Navarro    17  11  15  11   59
 CL Hawks    8  16  11  21   56

                            3pt           tot  rebounds
                  fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta pts  or-dr tot  a  s  b  to
 Jacob Ramirez      2-5     1-3     0-0    5    2-0   2   0  0  0  1
 Gerrit Wilkins     2-6     0-0     0-3    4    0-1   1   2  0  0  3
 Brandon Ward       4-14    4-9     2-3   14    1-3   4   1  0  0  2
 Rory Preiss        4-10    0-2     1-2    9    2-7   9   0  1  1  1
 Heath McDonough    0-2     0-0     0-0    0    2-7   9   0  0  1  1
 Sam Langford       2-6     1-3     0-0    5    0-2   2   0  1  0  0
 Will Nance         0-0     0-0     0-0    0    0-1   1   0  0  0  0
 Will Gray          5-7     0-0     5-6   15    1-3   4   4  1  0  2
 Joseph Boyd        1-4     0-1     0-0    2    3-1   4   0  0  1  1
 Tyler Williams     0-3     0-0     0-0    0    2-2   4   1  1  1  1
 Robert Woods       1-1     0-0     0-0    2    1-0   1   0  0  0  0
 totals            21-58    6-18    8-14  56   14-27 41   8  4  4 12
 pct                36%     33%     57%