East County Sports

Hawks take down ranked foe

2019 SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN HAWKS BASKETBALL

East County Sports staff report

KEARNY MESA (2-15-2019) – San Diego Christian College has been competitive all season long, but there have been precious few victories.

However, against another elite program in the Golden State Athletic Conference, the Hawks broke through with an impressive triumph.

Senior guard Tristan Angelo tallied a team-best 25 points, while Derek Novsek added 23 points including a pair of clutch foul shots with 20 seconds remaining, lifting the Hawks to an 83-80 decision over visiting 17th-ranked William Jessup in Golden State Athletic Conference action Thursday (Feb. 14) at Mesa College.

Tristan sank a foul shot for a 79-74 lead with 1:47 left, but the visiting Warriors answered with a pair of baskets from in the paint to move to within 79-78 at the 1-minute mark.

But in the final minute, San Diego Christian was once again clutch at the foul line. Tristan converted both of two shots, but the WJU’s Tyras

Rattler answered  on a layin. However, the basket came with just under 35 seconds to go, so the Warriors were forced to foul.

Novsek just held the basketball until fouled, then calmly sank his two free throws, then the Hawks defense highly-contested a Rattler 3-point shot to force overtime at the buzzer. It missed and SDCC collected another triumph.

Warriors wing Keith Phillips led all scorers with 33 points, yet he failed to hit any of his final six shots from the floor over the final 8:28 span as the Hawks defense finally solved the sharp-shooter.

For San Diego Christian (8-15 overall, 4-10 GSAC), guard Hayden Fredrick added 16 points, while forward Nick Crankshaw added 11, as the Hawks shot 56 percent from the floor.

Meanwhile, William Jessup season committed a mere 5 turnovers — easily a season-best — but the Warriors shot just 40.3 perfect (31-for-77; just 29-for-55 sans Phillips) to trail over a majority of the second half.

San Diego Christian will host Menlo College on Saturday afternoon at Grossmont College. The women play at 2 p.m., with the men to follow at 4 p.m.

Women

William Jessup 54, San Diego Christian 40:  At Mesa College, the Hawks again performed well for a half before falling to the visiting Warriors, an honorable mention program in the NAIA national rankings, in Thursday’s (Feb. 14) Golden State Athletic Conference cobtest.

San Diego Christian stayed in the contest when guard Hannah Myers tallied 9 points in the first half, keeping the Hawks to within 31-24 at halftime.  But when Myers was limited to just a single bucket in the second half, no one else could pick up the lack as William Jessup pulled away.

For the Warriors (18-8 overall, 9-6 GSAC), guard Liz Gehweiler led the way woth 16 points, while guard Lily Hagerty added 10.

In addition to Myers’ 12 points, the Hawks received 7 points from guard Kaitlyn McKinney, but a mere 6 team assists and 6 team steals were not enough.

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