Hawks win against Archers in intense overtime

“We hung around within five points pretty much for the whole game,” Jackson said. “We had our chances to win in regulation, we had a chance to win in over time we just couldn’t quite get the job done. But I couldn’t be prouder of my guys.”

In the first quarter the game was evenly matched with both teams trading buckets and rarely turning over the ball. The Archers had the upper hand at the end of the first quarter with a score of 12-10.

Horizon responded in the second quarter scoring 20 points and conceding 13. The Hawks entered the half with a lead of 30-25.

With Horizon outperforming them, St. Stephen’s didn’t throw in the towel and kept hustling and working to tie the game. St. Stephen’s closed down on the lead and finished the third quarter trailing Horizon 42-39.

Finally, St. Stephen’s work paid off when they took the lead in the fourth quarter with three minutes left to play.In dramatic fashion, the Hawks tied the game at 49 points and pushed the game into overtime.

Horizon sophomore Josh Rogers said their previous overtime encounters prepared them for this game.

“That was our third overtime game in a row,” Rogers said. “So, it’s really good for us to use those rough situations and get experience of those times of ‘this is it. We got to go now.’ But I thought we executed well. We all stayed in it, stayed mentally prepared and we got the win.”

Despite the win Darrin Lingel, head coach for the Hawks, said he thought the team played okay. With the team being gone for the holidays there was a noticeable performance decrease in the team, Lingel said.

“You could tell we were rusty. We haven’t had a game for a while,” Lingel said. “Overall, this wasn’t a great rhythm game. I didn’t feel comfortable with this game. We’ve done a better job offensively in other games but it’s part of the growth and I’m glad we had a game prior to league play.”

Illness within the Hawk squad also deteriorated the team’s performance, Lingel said.

Leading scorers for Horizon include Rogers with 17 points, junior Kai Robertson at 13 and sophomore Alex Whitaker with 12.

Top scorers for St. Stephen’s include senior Joel Radigan with 22 points junior Daniel Maharjan with 20 and junior Seth Bergeron with six.

The Hawk squad is back in action Friday, Dec. 10 as they host Mitchell/Spray at 7:30 p.m.