The Hawks won a relatively comfortable victory over the Todd Beamer Titans in the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 28 to advance to the 3A Boys State Quarterfinals versus Mount Spokane at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 29. Junior guard Rayshaun Connor led Terrace with 16 points.
Despite a nerve-wracking end to the third quarter and start to the fourth when the Hawks lost the lead for the first time since the early moments of the game, Terrace prevailed in the loser-out contest.
Asked what changed about how the team adjusted after the third quarter, senior forward Zaveon Jones said, “Like any other team, we were worried about (Beamer) coming back, but (the) fourth quarter came around. We just played our hearts out after that.”
The game started off slowly for the Hawks, surrendering the first four points of the game, however they quickly responded by scoring the next nine points off of buckets from senior post Gabe Towne, Connor and Jones. The Hawks continued their run, with junior forward Svayjeet Singh and Jones both putting away two points each to take a 13-5 lead midway through the first quarter. This 13-1 run would be the Hawks largest of the game. After conceding a three to the Titans, the Hawks went on another 7-0 run to finish out the first quarter. Singh hit another jumper that was followed by a steal from senior forward Jaxon Dubiel, which finished at the freethrow line to extend the lead to nine. Finally, Towne had a big three on an assist from Dubiel to take the Hawks to a 20-8 lead at the end of the first.
The Hawks slowed down at the start of the second quarter, missing their first few shots, however they were quickly able to pick up their rhythm, with Dubiel scoring two from the freethrow line, later followed by a three from Connor with an assist by Dubiel. However, these baskets were broken up by a layup from Todd Beamer’s Caleb Berry and a charge called on Jones. After a Titan’s three, Dubiel got a three point play on a foul and a free-throw.
A technical foul was also assessed on Todd Beamer’s coach, leading to two additional free throws taken by Connor, who made 1 of 2 to extend the Hawks’ lead to 14 midway through the second quarter. A few minutes later, Connor hit a three from the top of the key to extend the Hawks’ lead to 32-17. Singh scored on the Hawks’ next possession, however the bucket was called back due to a charge. Terrace and Beamer traded baskets for the rest of the first half, with senior post Don Brown scoring for the Hawks to take them into halftime with a 34-19 lead.
The Hawks outscored Todd Beamer 14-11 in the second quarter. At halftime, Connor led the way for the Hawks with nine points, followed by Dubiel with eight. Towne had six points, Singh had four, and Jones had three points and six rebounds. Senior point guard Logan Tews and Brown rounded out the scoring for the Hawks, both getting two points.
The Hawks defense limited the Titans to just 25% field goal shooting in the first half on 6/24 from the floor. At the half, the Hawks bested the Titans in effective field goal percentage 57.1%-37.1%, and had twice as many total rebounds as the Titans.
Dubiel opened the scoring in the second half, getting a short-range jumper plus the foul. He made his free throw, extending the Hawks’ lead to 18. After a Beamer basket, Dubiel got another and one, keeping the lead at 18. Beamer then went on a short 6-2 run off of two threes, broken up by a short 2 from Connor to cut the lead to 41-30.
However, the Hawks were able to respond again, with senior guard Joe Asalifew scoring his first points of the game followed by Connor getting two more points from the freethrow line to take the lead to 15.
The Hawks had looked nearly unstoppable up to this point in the game, however, everything started to fall apart late in the third quarter. Terrace was held scoreless as Beamer finished the quarter on a 13-0 run to cut the lead to just two. The Hawks racked up several team fouls near the end of the third, leading to seemingly never ending free throws for the Titans, who were able to cut the lead from 7 to 2 on effectively a single possession. This really symbolized the dysfunction of the Hawks in the second half of the third quarter as seemingly nothing went right for them. They lead 45-43 and were outscored 24-11 in the quarter.
Things only kept getting worse for the Hawks in the beginning of the fourth quarter, as the Titans got an and one to take their first lead of the game since it was 4-3 in the first quarter. They were able to get another bucket to extend their lead to three and their run to 18-0.
Jones finally broke the run with a short-range jumper to cut the lead to one. On the Hawks’ next possession, Jones was fouled, sending him to the line where he made both of his free throws to retake the lead for the Hawks. Connor then got another three to extend the Hawks lead to 4, sending them on a 7-0 run. The Hawks led for the rest of the way, fending off Beamer’s late rally. However, the Titans kept it close for the next few minutes, scoring a three in response to the run, and then scoring from the free throw line to respond to Connor and cut the lead to 1. But after this, the Hawks went on another 7-0 run to take a 61-54 lead off of a Towne three and free throws by Towne and Dubiel.
With just 1:34 left in the game, this effectively ended the game, with the Titans and Hawks trading free throws for the rest of the game. Beamer’s coach was ejected after another technical foul, and the Hawks walked away with a 69-59 victory.
Connor was the leading scorer for the Hawks with 16 points, closely followed by Dubiel and Zaveon Jones with 13 and 14 points respectively. Jones almost had a double-double with 9 rebounds. Towne and Singh were next in the scorer’s list having 11 and 8 points respectively. Tews, senior guard Chance Calmers, and Brown rounded out the scoring for the Hawks with 2, 1, and 2 points respectively.
