Hawks Take Opener

Suzhou – With high expectations and wary of the new level of competition they will be facing the new look Albany Hawkeye’s squared off against the Suzhou Tigers in game one of season 4.  Suzhou is a well rounded team with strong fundamentals that finished a respectable sixth last season in Aussie 1st and won the country cup in season 2. 

In an act of defiance the Hawks opened the game with Big Dave at center giving up over 10 skill points at the center position.  Dave handled himself courageously holding his opponent to four points and a rebound while outscoring him by one point.  Jay Wright and Elli Skotgladi led the team with 10 and 9 points respectively as the Hawks built a 20 point lead primarily on floor shooting.

In the second the Tigers bounced back mainly from the work of their guard court and poor shooting from Albany.  The normally dynamic Bulgarian duo of Cvetelin Kalinski and Alex Petkov struggled to get on track while newcomer Humongous George missed an equally humongous 6 of 6 free throws.  The Hawks lost the quarter by two but maintained an overall 18 point lead.  Most noticeable in the period was Timmy Turdburgle’s snappy defense grabbing two steals and sending two shots back.  Overall a rather un-hawkish period overall though.  At halftime the tilt was 49-31 Hawks.

The third saw a return to the team of old by the Hawkeye’s as Melivmbe Otumbabababawon and Qinglai Huang came on the floor.  Actually Q was present but unaccounted for in the first while Mel had the legitimate excuse of not being on the floor.  Elli and Q combined for 17 in the quarter and Kutur Skyhook added another 9.  Interestingly Albany struggled nearly the whole game for rebounds but in the third Elli grabbed 6 out rebounding the rest of the team combined.  By the end of the third the Hawks had doubled their lead and then some making the score Albany 86-34.

The 4th quarter was fairly evenly played, the Hawks suffered a loss when Timmy T. left the game after only 1:39 of the quarter had been played.  Jack Carter and Kutur picked up the slack followed by strong contributions from Qinglai Huang, Alex Petkov and Cvetelin Kalinski.  After four quarters the Hawks triumphed 113-66.  A solid and satisfying effort.  Kutur Skyhook was man of the match and the Hawks look to continue their winning ways tomorrow night against the Melbourne Sharks in front of an appreciative home crowd.  For the home opener the Hawkeye’s will be introducing a new team logo so enthusiasm should be high.