GATES MILLS—Hawken set out to spoil visiting Edgewood’s undefeated season on Saturday but the Warriors rallied from an early deficit to defeat their hosts, 59-55.
The Hawks jumped out to an early 15-4 run but the Warriors weathered the storm and pulled to within 33-27 at the break.
“We have been down at half a couple of these games this year,” said Edgewood’s Ben Welty, who scored a game-high 18 points. “Coach motivates us at halftime and we come out scoring in the third quarter.”
Edgewood pulled to within three points early in the second quarter but the Hawks responded with another run to push their lead to 27-17 midway through the period.
Again, Edgewood made the plays it needed to in order to end the half within striking distance.
“We wanted them to play man-to-man defense, which they did and we were also getting the 50-50 balls, getting after the ball, diving,” said Edgewood coach John Bowler. “Edgy, scrappy basketball is what we were looking for.”
Edgewood took its first lead in the third quarter, 44-43, but the Hawks responded with a five-point run capped by Cooper Bryan’s 3-pointer to regain the lead at 48-44 after three.
The Warriors pulled ahead 56-55 late and held on for their sixth straight win.
“Kids stepped up,” Bowler said. “They could have easily folded tonight. I was very proud of them.”
Logan Kray joined Welty in double-digit scoring with 15 points and Christian Curry and Zach Vencill both scored nine in the win.
Edward Ross led Hawken with 15 points while Taj Caver and Quinn Peterson scored 10 each for the Hawks, who dropped to 2-3.
“We are a resilient team,” Caver said. “We just really have to stick together, but as a team, I feel like we had that game and unfortunately lost it at the end.”
Edgewood hosts Conneaut on Tuesday while Hawken hosts St. Martin de Porres on Thursday.
