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Hawkins helps Falls hold off Struthers late
By Steve Wilaj
STRUTHERS
Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach knows his team — which has a flair for the dramatic — would have lost this type of game a month ago. Heck, the Tigers lost this type of game on Friday at Girard.
But Tuesday night at Struthers, the Tigers finally emerged victorious, 57-49, from a tight contest that was decided in the final minutes. They held off a late Wildcats run that cut their lead to two points midway through the fourth quarter.
“We were able to regroup and play a very solid last minute-and-a-half,” Sembach said. “So we’ll definitely take the victory against a well-coached team that obviously didn’t give up.”
Entering the fourth quarter trailing 44-31, three straight 3-pointers by Dalton Moore trimmed the score to 46-42 with 3:46 remaining. A layup by Ray’Quan Phifer 20 seconds later then made it 46-44.
But Newton Falls (6-5, 2-3 All-American Conference, National Division) pushed the lead back to seven points before the Wildcats once again cut the deficit to two with free throws from Phifer with 41 seconds left.
Struthers (3-7, 0-5) then forced a five-second call on the Tigers, but freshman Andrew Carbon missed a potential game-tying jumper. Newton Falls’ Ozzie Hawkins, who finished with a game-high 26 points, iced the game with three free throws.
“Everything just snowballed. I don’t really even think we played that bad in the fourth,” Sembach said. “Struthers hit some tough shots and then we rushed a little bit, made some mental errors and took some quick shots.”
The Wildcats outscored Newton Falls 18-13 in the fourth quarter.
“We can’t wait or it’s too late,” Struthers coach Joe Savko said. “It’s a shame we can’t play with intensity until we start making some shots — then everybody’s all happy and playing as hard as they can. In the first half we came out and just weren’t playing hard.”
Or making shots. Newton Falls led 28-12 at halftime, using a 17-3 scoring run that stretched from the end of the first quarter to the break. Sembach called it the Tigers’ best period of basketball all season.
“We played some defense,” Hawkins said. “I thought we did really well in the second quarter of turning defense into offense. We played about three quarters really well, but in the fourth we kind of let down a little bit.”
Hawkins certainly brought it for all four quarters, grabbing a team-high six rebounds as he finished a perfect 11-of-11 from two-point range. Hawkins — who scored 28 on Friday — said his recent hot streak is a result of playing under control.
“He had an outstanding game,” Sembach said. “His decision-making is becoming better. Early in the season he was at times forcing shots and passes. I think he’s getting much better at reading the defense and taking what’s there.”
Carbon and Phifer each had 10 points to pace the Wildcats.
“We tell them all the time, it’s on the defensive end where you win games,” Savko said. “We started playing some defense and that got us back in the game. So we’ll take positive from that.”