Dubbed “The Battle of Fire & Ice,” Hawken split with Gilmour Academy in the inaugural Swoopfest competition on Saturday.
Hawken’s boys’ team claimed a 51-35 win over Gilmour while the Lancers dominated the girls’ game, 59-17. Each school also competed in a swimming event.
“We really told the guys to enjoy the moment,” said Hawken boy’s coach Josh Nugent. “I was concerned with how we’d channel that energy of the crowd. I think we showed that right away with how we played, we were smart and got some good looks and our defense was so solid and disruptive early on, it allowed us to get some clean looks in transition with some nice plays that really got the crowd into it.”
Hawken opened the game with a strong 15-4 first-quarter run that was complemented by active defense and a pair of big-time throwdowns from Greg Rice that swiftly gave Hawken an early momentum edge.
The Hawks finally got the fast start they had been looking for.
Slow starts had plagued them all year, and more specifically in a 43-29 loss on the road to West Geauga on January 4.
“That game (against West G) has helped us grow in a lot of ways, one of the things we took from that game was that we have to do a better job of dictating defensively and letting our defense help our offense; that night we let our stagnant offense affect how we played defensively,” Nugent said. “Since that moment we’ve really tried to get the guys to understand that it has to be the other way around, tonight that really come to fruition, it was a culmination of understanding how hard you can make life for teams when you lock into defense, coverages and assignments and what that does for us offensively is we start to move the ball and we don’t get so stuck offensively. We finally put the pieces together tonight.”
The Hawks took a 30-15 lead into the third quarter before Gilmour made its run into the fourth when David Pfundstein connected on a 3-pointer with 6:18 left in the game that forced a Hawken timeout with the Hawks lead 40-33.
“Gilmour is good and well-coached; they’re not going to give up,” Nugent said. “We knew we couldn’t take our foot off the pedal, we felt like we got too ahead of ourselves, but the guys responded really well, they turned it up defensively and we were able to get a few easy baskets and settle back in.”
Beating their archrivals in the Battle of Gates Mills was the priority for the Hawks, and with their mission completed, the Hawks hope to ride that momentum into the postseason.
“They’re the standard bearer in this area–two final fours, elite eight, and state championship appearances; that’s what our aspirations are,” Nugent said about the big win over rival Gilmour. “It’s a big win in that respect. Tonight was about showing the kids that we can compete with championship-caliber teams. I think that was important for the guys.”
Taj Caver and Greg Price led the Hawks with 16 and 11 points, respectively.
Caver was 7-of-8 from the floor with four steals and Price secured nine of his 11 in the first half, which included a pair of crowd-pleasing dunks.
Jonathan Drockton finished with eight points and was backed by six points from David Dettelbach who also had three monster blocks. Jordan Johnson contributed with four points and both Daron Hill and Ethan Khorana pitched in with three points.
It’ll be a quick turnaround for Hawken in this coming week as they serve as the home team in a game against Cleveland Central Catholic at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and then host West Geauga in a game that could decide the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division title.
“I don’t think I’ll have to say many words to them about the message moving forward, I think they understand the moment; with the way we played in the first matchup the guys know what to do,” Nugent said. “That game wasn’t an early season fluke; West G has played well since that game and we’re going to have to be ready for a battle very similar to this game. What happened tonight gives me confidence that our guys are ready for the moment.”
Gilmour dropped to 10-5 overall after the loss to Hawken.
Jimmy Lawless led the Lancers with 12 points, Tim Lee pitched in with 10 and David Pfundstein finished with seven. The Lancers got four points from Zac Titas and two points from Tanner Deweese.
Hawken’s girls’ team wasn’t as fortunate as the Lancers dominated the second half in their 59-17 win over the Hawks.
A big part of the win was the third quarter when Gilmour used a 22-6 advantage to extend its lead out to 48-17 before pitching a fourth-quarter shutout mixed with an 11-0 advantage to close to door on Hawken.
“We got off to a good start early because we settled in quickly and moved the ball well,” said Gilmour head coach Kevin Byrne. “Our first half didn’t really have quite the right feel to it overall for us. I challenged the girls a little bit at halftime. I wanted us to come out and play better in the second half and we were able to do that.”
With nine of 12 players recording at least a point, Gilmour’s offense was as balanced as ever.
“We had a lot of girls score today,” Byrne said. “Our shooting is really hit-or-miss. Tonight, we were more miss than hit. “Katie (Puletti) and Helen (Holley) both played really well for us tonight.”
Holley finished with 16 points and eight rebounds with three steals to lead Gilmour’s attack. Puletti pitched in with 10 points, including two of Gilmour’s seven made threes.
Nicci Finazzo contributed with nine points. Kelsey O’Toole, Morgan Pfundstein, and Tia Shaw all scored five points while Elena Kline-Ruminski finished with three points. Madison Minotas, Celia Duffy, and Katie Moore each finished with two points.
A sluggish first half was swiftly brushed away by a fast-paced and strong defensive second half that sealed the deal for Gilmour with much to build on in the final two stanzas.
“We’ve played a tough schedule with some more on the horizon,” Byrne said. “We just have to stay focused and keep playing well.”
Hawken dropped to 2-13 with the loss to Gilmour.
Sarah Liu led the Hawks with eight points, Julia Scales pitched in with seven and Tess Peterson finished with two points.
Gilmour hosts NDCL on Thursday while Hawken hosts Cleveland Central Catholic on Monday.
