Hawks teams valiant versus Birds
- Updated: January 4, 2019
2019 SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN COLLEGE BASKETBALL
East County Sports staff report
EL CAJON (1-4-2019) – Quick. Name the member school of the Golden State Athletic Conference which transferred its location to a brand-new campus?
For those who guessed San Diego Christian College and its new facility in Santee, your answer became obsolete last month.
Introducing the new Arizona Christian College Firestorm, now located in Glendale, Ariz., a short drive from the old location in Phoenix.
And both of their basketball teams are NAIA nationally ranked, both coming to town to defeat the hometown Hawks.
Men – No. 11 Arizona Christian 86, San Diego Christian 75: After the Hawks shocked No. 2 Ther Master’s in their last home game, a second upset was in the offering after San Diego Christian mounted a 10-point halftime lead on the 11th-ranked Firestorm.
However, AUC used a 52-31 advantage in the second half to claim the GSAC decision
Hayden Fredrick jump-started the Hawks with an early triple, part of his team-best 26 points
The close first half was finally snapped by the Hawks with a 22-5 run, featuring six triples, to mount a 13-point lead, settling for a 44-34 advantage at the break.
But in the second half, when the outside shooting disappeared, so did the lead.
Three minutes into the second half, the Firestorm regained the lead for keeps as forward Callum Lawson went coast-to-coast, capping his dribble-drive with a monster jam. San Diego Christian shot 38 percent from the floor and 38 percent from beyond the arc. They went to the free throw line 23 times making just 15.
For Arizona Christian (14-1, 2-1 GSAC), guard Terence Shelby led with 23 points, while Lawson added 22.
SDCC Thursday received 12 points from Nick Crankshaw, while Tristan Angelo added 10. However, leading scorer Derek Novsek was limited to 8 points on 2-for-16 shooting. The Hawks will host Ottawa (Ariz.) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Grossmont College.
Women – Arizona Christian 66, San Diego Christian 54: Erica McCarter registered a Hawks team-high of 16 points while Hannah Myers came off the bench to add 12, but the Firestorm was still able to hold on in GSAC action at Grossmont College.
The Hawks (6-10 overall, 0-4 GSAC) stayed close throughout, but especially in the first half. They utilized an 8-2 run to close the first quarter at 14-all, then, while McCarter scored 10 of her points in the first half to take the lead before ACU scored five points over the final 50 seconds to take a 28-24 lead at the intermission.
The 5-0 streak transformed to an additional 10-2 run to open the second half, which proved to be the difference.
Poor shooting by the Hawks (25.5 percent) doomed them, including just a single 3-point goal.
San Diego Christian next hosts Ottawa (Ariz.) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
