Hawks drop close contest to No. 1 seed

Hocking College dug itself a huge hole in both halves on Tuesday and could not recover as the Hawks lost to No. 1 seeded Davidson-Davie Community College (NC) 100-93 in a second round winners bracket game at the NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship Tournament in Danville, IL.

Hocking fell behind by 14 early in the first half, and eventually cut it to six. Hocking would trail by as many as 17 in the first 20 minutes, before narrowing the halftime deficit to 50-37. However, Davidson-Davie, who has won 33 straight games since losing its season opener last November, came out hot and raced to a 23-point lead with 16 minutes remaining. The Hawks still trailed by 20 with 10 minutes left, before stagin a furious comeback, cutting the lead to 95-91 with 1:12 remaining, but is as close as the Hawks would get as the rally came up short.

Sophomore guard Allen Lattimore paced the Hawks with a team-high 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Freshman forward Treshawn Cody added 21 points for a second straight game while coming off the bench. Cody also grabbed 11 rebounds and added three steals and three blocks. Sophomore forward Dennis Osoro added nine points and nine boards, while freshman forward Zion Reynolds came off the bench to also tally nine points and three assists.

The Hawks had 13 players score in the game and the team shot 48 percent from the field, connected on eight 3-pointers, and outrebounded Davidson-Davie 43-31. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they made only made 25 of 40 free throws for 63 percent while the Storm, now 33-1, shot 80 percent from the line, making 35 of 44.

The loss snaps a five-game winning streak for 16th-seeded Hocking, who will play an elimination game on Thursday, March 21 at 1:00pm ET against Pima Community College (AZ), the No. 9 seed. Pima lost to No. 8 Des Moines Area Community College 98-74 on Tuesday.