Hawk Freshman Clamp Down on the St. Paul Guardians in OT Win, 46-37
Benjamin Rowe helping Hawks get win over St. Paul (photo by Karen Holmes)
Canyon Lake Freshman won their game over St. Paul Austin last Friday after outscoring the Guardians 10-1 in overtime for a final score, 46-37.
Benjamin Rowe is all smiles after sinking important Free Throws
The Hawks went into their half-time locker room talk after a lethargic level of play during the first two quarters.
“Coach told us to take care of the ball and be more aggressive,” Nic Rivera said. “Our pick and row started working and every time we ran it I had a chance to either get the ball to ‘Rico’ (Zachery Griffin) or take it.”
“We were needing a wake-up call,” Rylee Spaulding recalled. “We were lazy on defense and we were just out of it….but the second half we got aggressive.”
The Hawks finally shook the cobwebs off their basketballs after scoring 10 points for the shorter period in giving CL a 9 point advantage when the final horn sounded in this win.
Four Hawks finished in double figure scoring, Zachery Griffin (12), Benjamin Rowe (11), Nic Rivera (10), and Rylee Spaulding (10). All four Hawks got to the double point level during the overtime period.
Canyon Lake had a vicarious 2 point lead after the first period but the Guardians won the next two quarters and was up 3 points going into that final quarter.
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That 3 point lead was hard for the home team to wrestle from St. Paul’s grasp as Rivera would have a couple of drives and a spot up 3 pointer in helping to set the stage for this ending.
Rowe had most of the pressure, during the end of regulation play, as he was on his own at the free throw line and after making both shots the Hawks had a two point lead with less than a minute on the clock.
Oliver with St. Paul would respond with a 3 pointer to put the Guardians up by one point and CL would need to work again for a chance of pulling out this victory.
With good defense, CL Freshman, were able in scoring some important points as the game was amplified with a, down to the wire, contest.
The Hawks offense set had the rotation with the Hawk players with good separation and then Rowe was fouled with a chance of getting the Hawks into the lead.
“I’m not thinking it is the end of the game,” Rowe said in response to what was going through his head during those end of game free shots. “I don’t worry about the shot and just think this is the first part of the game.”
After sinking the first try, which would be the most important shot, the Hawk’s were tied with less than 5 seconds left, but a miss had overtime written on this game and a chance for more heroics.
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Rowe was 0-fer 3 in the first half from the charity stripe, but did not suffer in the second as he was 6 for 7 and 2 for 2 during the overtime. Canyon Lake did not miss from the free throw line in overtime making all six tries.
Two of those overtime free throws resulted in 3 point plays the old fashion way as Griffin and Rivera both had those honors. The Hawks had all four of their double digit scorers reach that level during the extra period.
Spaulding was cleaning glass during the overtime period by giving St. Paul just one shot with each of their possessions with his rebounding.
“We made some big shots and we got the crowd into it,” Rowe said. “We never want to lose and especially during overtime.”
Canyon Lake simply clamped down on St. Paul by holding a good team to just one free throw when the game counted and sending the Hawks to their New Year’s Day with a satisfying win.
The Freshman will be back in action January 3rd when Poteet enters the Hawk Nest with the tip-off at 5pm.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 OT Final St. Paul 6 12 10 8 1 37 CL Hawks Fresh 8 9 8 11 10 46 Hawk Scorers:Zachery Griffin 12, Benjamin Rowe 11, Nic Rivera 10, Rylee Spaulding 10, Seth Moss 2.
