The Blackhawks, playing their third game in four days at home, dug deep and came up with enough energy to earn a tough fought victory versus the visiting Spencer Rockets 58-41.
With the game starting slowly for the Hawks on the offensive end, they had to rely on their defense throughout the game. Colin Fritz hit a pair of free throws to get the Hawks on the board and on the next trip down Mason Gay fed junior Jack Wendler for a solid post move and basket, giving the Hawks a 4-2 lead. Gay would then follow that up with a deep three, and another one four possessions later, trying to loosen up the Rockets zone defense. A steal and lay-up by Dominic Sherwood gave the Hawks a 12-8 advantage, as Gay and Sam Wells then hit threes to move the score to 18-10. The Hawks would then have to tighten the screws on defense as their offense couldn't get anything to fall. Jack Wendler worked hard for a rebound bucket to get them back on track, and a Sherwood two helped move the score to 27-16 at the half.
Both teams continued to battle more of the same in the second half. Poehler hit from deep to get the Hawks going, and then took a Fritz pass at the high post and knocked it in for a 32-22 lead. Fritz then hit a pair of free throws and a steal and lay-up. Sherwood's three made it 39-28, as the Hawks continued to keep control of the game. The Rockets cut the lead to eight, but then the Blackhawks scored on 6 of 8 trips with an acrobatic lay-up made by Mason Gay while going to the floor. Baskets by Fritz and Mathew Wilson finished the game with the 58-41 final.
The Blackhawks only shot 22 of 71 overall, but 23 offensive boards helped as they scored 14 second chance points on the night, while keeping the Rockets to only 43 shots, as the Rockets turned the ball over 25 times.
Box Score: Gay 15 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts, 4 stls; Fritz 14 pts, 10 rebs, 3 asts, 3 stls; Sherwood 11 pts, 5 rebs, 4 asts, 3 stls; Poehler 8 pts, 10 rebs, 3 asts, 3 stls; Wendler 5 pts, 7 rebs, 2 stls; Wells 3 pts, 4 rebs, 2 asts; Wilson 2 pts; Baehr 3 rebs, 2 stls, 2 blks.
Coach's Comments
The guys continually played strong on the defensive end, chasing them off the three-point line, limiting Spencer to 0 for 9 from behind the arc. I liked the way we matched any of Spencer's runs with a run of our own, once again with balanced scoring with three guys in double digits and two guys grabbing double digits on the boards. We out rebounded them 44-29.