The Hawks ranked second in the Big 8 conference as they traveled to Sacramento City College to play the conference leading Panthers and were defeated in overtime on Friday night, dropping them to third in the conference.

Coming into this game, the Hawks record on the road was 1-4 and their next four games are hosted by conference opponents. Cosumnes River College’s Head Coach Jonathan James said the team is capable of winning on the road and they are looking to defend their conference championship title.

“It’s tough, we got a bunch of them (games) on the road. That’s the nature of it when you’re going through it,” James said. “We’ve been there and we have a tough one, but we’ll be okay.”

Freshman guard Luca Davis said he has to have a short term memory for losses like this. He said he immediately moves on from the loss and begins preparing himself for the next game.

“It starts now,” Davis said. “I can sit here and sulk about it, I can be upset about it, but I got to get over it so I can focus on the next game.”

Early in the game, the Hawks made multiple defensive stops in a row and capitalized on some of those possessions by putting points on the board.

The Hawks were the first team back on the court after halftime and their energy was contagious to the small visiting crowd attempting to compete with the Panthers fans lined wall to wall in the North Gymnasium at Sac City.

The score was quickly tied at 40 points with 16 minutes left in the game. A few fouls put the Hawks back, including a travel call on a basket made by sophomore forward Antonio Tercero that was believed to be an “and one” based on the crowd’s initial reaction to the referee’s whistle.

The Hawks took the lead towards the end of regulation with back to back three pointers from both teams and a fastbreak dunk from Tercero which resulted in a technical foul for a player on each team. The Hawks led 75-72 in the final two minutes of regulation, but the Panthers were able to comeback and tie the game at 76 to push the Hawks into overtime.

Davis hits a three pointer with two minutes left in overtime to put the Hawks up 81-80. The Panthers answered with their own three pointer and put the game away with a fastbreak score to defeat the Hawks in overtime 90-83.

Sophomore guard Isaiah Griffin said the Panthers have to lace up their shoes just like the Hawks do.

“Moving forward, we’ll see them again and we will win. We are going to win.”