The Hawks men’s basketball team opened their home schedule with a non-league thriller that came down to the final seconds, defeating the star-studded 4A Arlington Eagles 47-46. The game started off with a fast-paced, mistake-fueled back-and-forth fest. Freshman guard Anthony Fuentes opened the scoring for the Hawks, knocking down a three to go up 3-2 on Arlington.
Fuentes was asked afterwards about getting his first piece of action in a varsity home game.
“It felt impactful man, a little nerve-racking, but once I got into the flow it was a normal game,” Fuentes said.
Later in the quarter, senior guard Rayshaun Connor hit a three to narrow the Hawks deficit to just one point. Senior point guard Leyton Martin for Arlington sank a strong mid-range jumper to end four possessions in a row of stagnant basketball. Terrace got up 10 to 6 as junior Shan Shah came hot off the bench, knocking down a beautiful mid-range jumper within seconds of checking in .
Senior post Svayjeet Singh got his first bucket of the game by knocking down a powerful layup over an Arlington defender. The first quarter ended with Terrace up 12-10.
First-year head coach Johnny Phillips kept the same players in the rotation heading into the second quarter. Singh again went to work in the post with another bucket, as Terrace started to pull away from Arlington with a 14 to 10 lead.
Arlington was not finished, though, going on a 6-0 run led by Martin and sophomore guard Mac Crews, giving Arlington the lead back 16 to 14. Hawks’ freshman post Oliver Shaw-Jones stopped the run with a commanding block on Martin, sending the ball into the stands.
The game once again became a defensive battle as three minutes elapsed without a bucket. Singh finally ended the drought with a strong And-1 bucket under the hoop to bring his scoring total to 6 points in the first half, tying the game at 17 a piece.
Arlington responded right back at the free throw line, as senior starting center Billy Kooy hit multiple free throws to go up 20 to 17 on Terrace. Shah responded by sinking a three, bringing the Hawks to a tie once again. The first half ended Arlington up 23 to 20.
Arlington came out of the locker room bull-rushing the Hawks on a 7-nothing run to start the second half. Kooy led the charge for the Eagles. Despite solid defense, the Eagles’ run continued as senior guard Jackson Trotter put up two straight buckets and the lead swelled to 13 points.
Phillips inserted freshman guard Alex Mkrtychyan who scored four straight points drawing the game within eight, 27 to 35. Senior guard Connor, Singh and senior Brody Myers-Little brought the Hawks back within striking distance at the end of the third, with the Eagles up just 37 to 33.
Myers-Little saw immediate success early in the fourth quarter with a nice lay-up cutting the lead down to two. Shaw-Jones hit two straight free throws to tie the game up and completed the comeback at 37 a piece. Martin gave the Eagles the lead again hitting a big bucket making it 39-37 with just 4 minutes remaining in the game.
Connor went to work and hit a mid-range jumper to tie it back up at 39. Singh then came up huge on defense by sending a Martin shot nearly backup I-5 to Arlington with a harsh rejection. Kooy responded with a tough bucket and put the Eagles up by two. Myers-Little knocked down two foul shots tying the game up at 41.
On the Hawks’ next possession, Connor was fouled, but missed the first free throw, while the second one clanked in to put the Hawks up by one.
The Hawks got pressed in the backcourt and gave up the ball resulting in Arlington going up 44 to 42 with under 2 minutes left in the contest. Shah was subbed in for a bloodied Connor, and hit a knockdown three putting the Hawks up by one. Fuentes made one of two at the free-throw line putting the Hawks up by two. Martin drove to the glass for a tough layin to tie the game up at 46 a piece with just 7.7 seconds left in the game. Back in the game for the Hawks, Connor took the ball full court and went up for a contested off-the-glass mid-range shot and was fouled.
After missing the first, Connor calmly hit the second free-throw and the Eagles took their final timeout with 2.7 seconds remaining and the length of the court to go.
“Man, I’m just annoyed I missed the first free throw. I’m happy I hit the second and I’m happy our team grinded it out so hard for the win,” Connor said in a post-game interview.
Arlington got the ball in to Martin, who missed a shot from beyond the three-point line on the right side of the key as the buzzer sounded. Despite this loss, Martin was confident his team could rebound from this loss and reach state.
“I think just continuing to mesh well as a team to get where we were at the end of last season and to work on our offense because our defense was there tonight, but offense wins games, too,” Martin said.
The Hawks took on the Shorecrest Scots a few days later on Dec. 13. Shaw-Jones got the first bucket for Terrace and Scots sophomore center Jack Thompson blocked Connor to respond. Thompson blocked Shaw-Jones then blocked Connor right after. Scots senior forward Devan Jones checked right in and dunked it for the Scots, putting them up 12 to 2. To round out the first quarter, the Hawks were in a 15 to 5 hole. Junior point guard Brayden Fischer hit a lay-up to start the second quarter 19-5 Scots. Connor seemed to have trouble in the second missing multiple threes. Senior guard Porter Swanson passed to Thompson hitting a lay-up, 21 to 5 Scots. Fischer hit another three for the Scots, bringing them to 24-5. Myers-Little blocked junior guard Alexander Lo. Myers-Little hit free throw to close out the half. Thompson knocked down another bucket 48 to 17 Scots.
Connor hit a three to end the third 48 to 20 Scots. The Hawks lost 65 to 39 after going on a solid run in 4th out scoring the Scots.
“I know we went down, but we’re a young team and it’s all about resilience and proving our team in the coming games,” Phillips said.
