Navarro College Wrap-up
Fresh off the heels of Halloween, Hawks Men's basketball sure gave their fans a little bit of a scare. After a long summer, basketball had returned to The Dorothy Garrett as the men took to the court for the season opener against Navarro College. The team begins the season ranked #8 in the NJCAA D1 Top 25 Poll, but expectations are higher than that. A combination of rust, nerves and excitement lead to a slow start but the Hawks were able to rally and take a lead into half-time up 30-24. Certainly a tale of two halves, Navarro was able to outscore Howard 31-25 in the second half to tie the game up at 55 to end regulation. Overtime was all Howard though as the Hawks allowed only 9 points in OT and sealed the victory with a last second steal and score from Daniel Culberson as time expired winning the game 68-64.
Leading the Hawks with 23 points, Preist Ryan said of the victory:
"It was a great first test for us as a group, we were struck with adversity early and had a lot of guys ready to make the winning play, but most importantly we stuck together!"
Slow starts from both the 3-point and free-throw lines plagued the Hawks most of the evening but a strong defensive performance made up for any offensive woes. Howard held Navarro to a 35.7% from the field and 30.0% from the 3 while forcing the Bulldogs to 22 turnovers. When asked about the teams' performance, Head Coach Kyle Cooper exclaimed
"Proud of our guys for finding a way to win. It wasn't our sharpest game execution wise but there was a lot of positives that we can build on."
The Hawks will hit the road on November 7th to take on Dallas College North Lake in Midland for the second game of the season.