HAWKS FALL TO CECIL IN REGION XX TOURNAMENT

Saturday, March 2 - In a season where they played above expectations all year long, the men's basketball team hung right with the second ranked team in the country, the Cecil Seahawks, before falling 80-66 in a first round Region XX playoff game.

    Coming in to the season, many of the Hawks were new to each other, with many of the sophomores having red-shirted for a season.  Slowly, under the guidance of Head Coach Todd Fong and the rest of the coaching staff, the team begin to jell.  Dubbed "over achievers" by Fong, the Hawks were playing their best ball at the end of the season, winning six of their last seven games going into the tournament.  

    Cecil got off to a quick start against the Hawks, scoring the first 7 points of the game, and racing to a 13-4 lead.  CSM battled back, pulling within 3 with 12:30 left in the first half.  The Seahawks slowly pulled away, as the Hawks had trouble at times with Cecil's full court pressure, and lead by as much as 17 before CSM cut the margin to 46-33 at the half.

    Cecil (27-3) stretched the lead to as much as 20 points in the second half, before the Hawks went on a 6-0 run to cut the margin to 72-58 with 4:00 minutes left, forcing Cecil to call time-out.  The Hawks were able to cut the margin to 12 with 1:33 left, but key baskets down the stretch by the Seahawks kept CSM from getting any closer.  

    Wayne Gibson led CSM with 28 pts. and 12 rebounds, and made several key baskets during the game to keep the Hawks close.  Michael Scott led the balanced Cecil attack with 13 pts., and Justin Ien added 12.

    CSM was hurt by cold shooting, especially from the 3 point line, where the Hawks usually excel, shooting only 20.8% from the arc.  CSM shot 33.8% overall compared to Cecil's 42.9%.  The Hawks played even with the taller Seahawks on the boards, as each team collected 49.

   While the loss was disappointing, the team should be proud of what they accomplished this season, surpassing most people's expectations and finishing with one of CSM's best records in years at 16-12.