Hawks Lose in Close Battle with Centre

Memphis, Tennessee – The Hawks fell to Centre in day two of the Rhodes Classic 84-78.

Max Gardner's double-double was not enough to overcome the Colonels (his first this season). To begin the first half, the Hawks struck first with a made three-pointer from Nate Johns who had 22 on the night. With 18 minutes left, the score would change in favor of Centre as they took the two-point lead 9-7. The score changed twice more before the Hawks regained the lead with 5 minutes remaining from 3 made three-pointers from Max Gardner, Austin Linville, and Tate Goolesby (32-26). The Colonels answered with two made threes of their own and a jump shot to go back on top with 2:14 remaining in the first half (34-32). The first half ended with a 5-2 run by Centre to take the 5-point lead heading into halftime (39-34).

In the second half the Hawks were unable to gain the lead, the closest they would come was at the 12-minute mark as Nate Johns hit a three to bring Huntingdon within 2 (52-50). The three was countered by a Centre 7-0 run in two minutes that gave them a nine-point lead which the Hawks would not be able to overcome.

For the Game the Hawks shot 48% from the field and 43% from behind the arc making 10 threes. Huntingdon only missed one free-throw, going 10-11 but the Colonels shot 14 more free throws than the Hawks and scored 21 points from the foul line. Huntingdon had 19 turnovers on the game while Centre only had 5, resulting in 24 points for the Colonels.

Stat Leaders for Huntingdon:

#3 Nate Johns – 22 Points, 5 Rebounds

#20 Tate Goolesby – 17 Points

#2 Max Gardner – 12 Points, 13 Rebounds

The Hawks will return to action after Christmas on December 30^th in Mississippi as they take on Millsaps at 4:00pm CST.