Mens Howard Hawks basketball team cruises to a easy victory
Coach Scott Raines issued a challenge to his guards before Thursday night's games against the Frank Phillips Plainsmen - shut down the Frank Phillips guard duo of Jaheim Tanksley and DJ Richardson. No problem.
Tanksley and Richardson were coming off a combined 53 points in a win over Clarendon. Against Howard they combined for 11 points. That was the tale of the game as the Hawks cruised to a 77-41 win Thursday night in front of the home fans.
The Hawks guard rotation of Rahkiem Petterson, Blaize Sagna, D'Mirl Wiltz, Jacoby Bishop, TK Bryant and Lamar Everd played suffocating defense on the Frank Phillips duo, limiting them to a 3 of 15 shooting night from the floor. "Every game we challenge our guys, we talked about those two," said Raines. We know that they (FP) get most of their points through them. When they score they usually win."
Howard showed it would have none of that from the start, scoring the first eight points of the game. Petterson was the leader by making two free throws and then picking Frank Phillips guard Jude Tapia's pocket, turning it into an easy layup. The lead continued to grow when Nester
Dyachok came off the bench to make two threepointers. Everd made a three from the corner, Petterson scored on a left handed drive and Wiltz hit a short turnaround jumper - Howard led 37-17 with a minute left in the first half.
The much smaller Hawks did fine job of battling Frank Phillips' pair of 6-foot-9 post players, outrebounding FP 26-23."I loved the way we battled them on the boards. Bonny (Udoh) was playing on a bad ankle. We didn't know if he would be able to keep going. He fought so hard. it was real inspirational to us all to see him play like that," said Raines.
Petterson led a balanced Howard attack with 14 points, six rebounds and three steals. Bishop scored 13 points on 6 of 12 from the floor.
. Howard will be at home Monday hosting New Mexico Junior College at 7:45 p.m., a game coach Raines calls "huge".
FRANK PHILLIPS (10-9, 1-4) - Aiden Gair 1 0 3; Jaheim Tanksley 2 5 9; DJ Richardson 1 0 2; Adeola Seun 3 3 9;
Tyrese England1 0 2;
Jude Tapia 2 1 5; 3 2 8; Anthony Filippou 1 1 0 2; TOTALS 14-50, 10-12 41,
HOWARD (11-6,3-2) - Rahkiem Petterson 5 1 14; Blaize Sagna 2 0 5; D'Mirl Wiltz 5 0 10; Jacoby Bishop 6 0 13; Boonny Udoh 2 0 4; TK Bryant 2 1 5; Lamar Everd 3 0 6; Ogejen Lacmanovic 3 0 9; Nester Dyachok 4 0 11; totals 32-63, 3-3 77.
Halftime - Howard 37, Frank Phillips 19. Turnovers- FP 22, Howard 10, Three Points - FP (Tapia 2, Gair 1), Howard (Dyachok 3, Lacmanovic 3, Pettrson 1, Sagna 1,Bishop 1, Bryant); Rebounds - FP 23 (Tapia 5, Seun 5); Howard 26 (Petterson 6, Bishop 6); Assists - FP (Tapia 2); Howard (Wiltz 8, Bryant 4); Steals - FP (Tapia 2); Howard (Petterson 3, Wiltz 2); Blocked Shots (Tapia 1); Howard - Undoh (3) (432) 263-8473