Hawks Trump Bogans

Hawkeye Pavillion – Behind the hot hands of Jack Carter and Fede Cresci the Hawkeyes defeated the Broady Bogans at home last night.  The Hawkeyes played without defensive anchor Shooter Chitwood who was sent to Okinawa for the Sapporo Daggers game.  Valdas Adamkus and Max Tacticus filled in well in his place and the Hawks easily won the game.

From the beginning it was clear that Fede and Jack were going to take charge in this one.  Fede shot 3 for 3 in the opening period and Jack had 9 points and 3 assists.  Qinglai Huang was on target as well hitting a jumper and 2 threes without a miss.  Big Dave struggled a bit missing all his shots in the first but did manage 5 big rebounds when it counted.  Valdas scored 7 and the Hawks ran off to a 30 to 15 lead after one.

In the second Cvetelin Kalinski picked up where Q left off and added a little more as The Bulgarian Brotherhood took it to the Bogans.  Alex Petkov threw in seven with 5 boards and Cvetelin scored nine on 4 for 4 while adding 5 assists.  Jack added 6 more as did Fede while center Melivmbe Otumbabababawon practically reduced their center to tears blanking him to 0 for 10 after he had led them in scoring in the first.  In an act of kindness Mel allowed him 2 rebounds but hit both his shots while blocking one and stealing one.  In an overall strong defensive second the Hawkeyes allowed less than half the points they had in the first climbing on top 67-22.

Period 3 found the team again looking to Carter.  The Knife diced his way to 8 points and 2 boards on 4/5 as his field goal percentage continues to climb.  Valdas served them up getting 4 assists and Big Dave got on track scoring 8.  Alex Petkov again nailed a 3 for 7 total.  With Mel on the bench they were again able to get some points inside and they brought in a fresh SF who had a little more in his legs than Carter who scored 11.  The Hawkeyes maintained and even increased their lead 29-20 making the overall score through three Hawks 96 – Bogans 42. 

Mel returned in the fourth and sent a message pretty quickly, defense was to be the focus in the fourth.  Mel scored 7 but his two blocks in the period gave notice that the points inside would not be easy.  The Bogans responded by running two different centers at him both of whom he held scoreless over the final 12 minutes.  Max Tacticus picked up the lead and had a block himself to go with 4 points.  Elli Skotgladi totally dominated their SF who had scored well in the third, Elli had 4 steals and five rebounds in the period and did not allow a basket by the opposing SF while Jack took a much needed breather.  Fede Cresci returned to the game and hit both his field goals but missed on a couple of threes.    Still with 7 for 11 for the game and 17 total points to go with 6 boards his effort was solid if not spectacular.  Mel really was a defensive standout finishing with 3 blocks and 2 steals and Q, Cvet and Alex all had solid games scoring and dishing.  Jack Carter easily won Man of the Match  (his first as a Hawkeye).  Congrats Jack.

After the game Jack was asked about his performance and award “It does make you feel better indeed.   And there, my first MoM title this season, and only second overall but most importantly we won the game and can continue our streak.”  With the 124 t o44 victory the Hawkeyes move to 22 – 0 for the season in league games and 52 – 0 over the last 52 games.