December 30

By Daniel Schoettler

               The Warhawks gave themselves an early New Years gift with an 85-53 non-conference win over the Edgewood College Eagles Monday night in Kachel Gym.   The ’Hawks used another big performance from senior guard K.J. Evans to get the victory.

The ’Hawks and the Eagles played it close for the first five minutes.  After the opening start, the lead grew to a 10-point halftime lead as senior forward Reggie Hearn scored the last six points for the team before sending them into the locker room up 33-23.

“I thought that early in the first half we were flat-footed defensively,” head coach Pat Miller said. “We didn’t finish really well.  I thought we were getting good shots and as the half went on, particularly the last five minutes, our intensity level increased.”

The ’Hawks kept up the pace in the second half, as the team opened the period with a 7-0 run. Midway through the half, Evans took control scoring nine straight points from the 13:10 mark up until the 11:16 mark to extend the lead to 60-37.

 Miller’s team’s biggest lead of the night was 36.

                “I feel like we did a much better job in the second half,” Evans said. “We got off to a slow start, and didn’t have too much intensity.  After the talk at halftime, the coach really stressed to me to pick it up and get it together.”

                The ’Hawks shot 46.3 percent from the field while hitting 15 of its 21 free throws.  The Eagles shot 36.8 percent from the field while hitting nine of their 14 free throws.

                Evans led the team in the win with a double-double scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Hearn also was a big contributor for the ’Hawks with 15 points.

The Eagles only had one in double figures in Justin Williams, who had 12 points in the loss. Miller talked not only about Hearn’s second half, but his progress so far this season.

“His activity level was much better,” Miller said. “He was more aggressive the second half. He’s been pretty consistent with his scoring and rebounding. He has really improved.”

                With the win, the ’Hawks improve to 9-2 on the season. The team will remain at home to continue conference play against UW-River Falls at 7 p.m. on Saturday.