The men’s basketball team fell short against Modesto Junior College on Tuesday night in a close game.
The Hawks stayed in a seven point range behind the Pirates in the first half. They caught up in the second half and held the lead for a period of time, but ultimately Modesto pushed back and won 73-59.
“We played the way we wanted to play for 28 minutes and for those other 12 minutes we didn’t, Modesto took advantage of that,” head coach Jonathan James said. “They’re a good team and against good teams we got to play the whole game.”
In the first half, the Hawks were down 23-25, but a dunk by sophomore forward Kene Unachukwu tied the game. They played strong defense, not allowing Modesto to get far ahead and ended the half 39-41.
“In the first half we threw the first, second, third punch but we just needed to keep it going,” Unachukwu said.
Going into the second half, neither team scored for the first minute and a half. The first two points were scored by free throws from Modesto, but the Hawks caught up with another dunk by Unachukwu, tying the game once again.
Freshman forward Jake Williams helped the Hawks take their first lead of the game with a layup.
“I want to keep my team scoring but it’s hard when they go on runs, but I try to keep my team going,” Williams said. “I started to go off a little bit in the second half with my teammates’ help, so it was a group effort.”
The Hawks held a 3-point lead for a while but Modesto caught up and went on a 13-point run while in bonus.
Modesto freshman forward Dre’von Johnson received a flagrant foul call and allowed the Hawks’ sophomore guard Devon Haynes to shoot two free throws.
Going into the next game they plan to prepare not only physically but mentally as well, Unachukwu said.
The Hawks play again at Folsom Lake college on Friday at 7:30 p.m.