Hawks survive first half to post 63-48 victory over Malvern

  • By Dave Mast
  • January 28, 2010
  • 638
                        
For the Hiland Hawks in the first half of its Jan. 22 showdown with Inter-Valley Conference rival Malvern, it was all about survival. The second half was all Hawks, as Hiland managed to survive a shaky start just fine, regrouping for a 63-48 win, which all but eliminated the Hornets from contention for the IVC title. A 9-2 lead to start the game on the strength of five points from Noah Boyd and four from Luke Burch dissipated quickly, turning into a 15-13 Malvern lead at the end of the first quarter. Malvern coach Denny Tucci employed a fast-break running game early in the half, then when Hiland tried to adjust to that tempo, quickly went to a slow-down game which seemed to baffle Hiland even more. Yet when Boyd popped in a turn-around jumper in the lane to close out the half, the Hawks found themselves up 25-23 heading into the locker room. “We couldn’t wait to get into the half and regroup. Denny came in with a great game plan, and they kept us off balance the entire first half,” said Hiland coach Mark Schlabach. “Just when we thought we had to stop them from running, they switched up and slowed the game way down. They really executed well.” Once the Hawks had a chance to collect their breath at the half and take stock in what they wanted to do, they came out blazing. In the opening moments of the third quarter, Boyd hit a 3-pointer, Dylan Kaufman made a steal, got the ball to Burch who fed Boyd with a nifty assist and Boyd was the recipient of a block and long pass from Kaufman. Suddenly it was 32-23, and Malvern never got closer than seven the rest of the way. While the offense was kicking in gear, it became the responsibility of Braden Conn to shut down Malvern’s Paul Wackerly, who was single-handedly killing the Hawks. Conn’s intensity stuffed the Malvern senior when the Hornets got into any kind of half-court set, and despite Wackerly ending with a game-high 20 points in a gutsy effort, Conn had done his job when called on. “Typical Braden,” said Schlabach of his junior guard. “What, two points, and a whole lot of defense. Braden understands that he doesn’t have to score to make a big difference for us. It’s his court awareness, and ability to run the show when we need him to that matters.” The other thing that Schlabach said shifted momentum, and eventually made the difference, was his team’s shot selection in the second half. He felt they were taking tough shots in the first half, something he addressed at halftime. “We started to make the extra pass to find open guys,” said Schlabach. He also said that his team’s depth wore out Malvern, who only went seven deep. “Between our offensive flow, and them wearing down, I thought we had a big edge in the second half,” said Schlabach. “It seemed like everything we did was crisper, and that made the game much easier for us.” It didn’t hurt that Kaufman came to life in the second half. The high-flying junior had two points at the break, but scored 10 in the second half, among them a monster follow-up dunk off a Burch miss which rattled the rim, as well as the gymnasium. Kaufman ended the game with 12 points, 14 rebounds and five assists — a solid effort in a game in which his offense wasn’t clicking. Boyd paced the Hawks with 18 points, while Burch added 14 and Jalen Miller chipped in with nine.


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