HE PUSHES THE RIGHT BUTTONS
Each of the starting five from Cypress Falls had his moment during the team’s championship run. For junior guard Nigel Hawkins, those moments seemed to be among the brightest.
Whether it was making plays in transition against Sam Houston to win a playoff game in overtime. Or against Bush to send the Golden Eagles to state. Or at the Alamodome where Hawkins scored 15 and 18 points, respectively, and was named the championship game’s Most Valuable Player.
“He came in with confidence,” Cy Falls coach Richard Flores said. “And in those moments — like really good players do — he picked the points in the game where he needed to slow-play it and let the game come to him, or at times he would push the envelope and realize that it was his time and he needed to create.”
Hawkins led Cy Falls in scoring, opening the year with six straight 20-point games, including a season-best 36 against South Houston.
And when it mattered most, Hawkins came through. He missed only one free throw in the Eagles’ triple-overtime win over Dallas Skyline in the 6A semifinals and made 10-of-12 the next day against San Antonio Wagner.
Q: How was watching that fan base grow all season?
A: “We got so much love throughout the whole journey. When we came back to school, it wasn’t like we got even more love because they’ve been with us. For the team, we love it. We knew we weren’t just doing this for ourselves. We were doing it for them.”
Q: Did you ever catch yourself looking up into the stands?
A: “Oh, yeah. I did — before, during and after. It helps me calm down knowing they’re behind us. We were down at the beginning (of the championship game), and seeing them made us calm down and go out and play. They had energy — probably more at the beginning than we did — so that helped us.”
Q: Looking at you personally, how was the season?
A: “It went pretty well. I accomplished my goals and the team — we accomplished our goals. And the accolades came. My goal was to win state, lead the team, win district MVP and get the state tournament MVP. But really, just lead my team to winning games, because when you win the accolades follow.”
Q: What is the biggest strength to your game?
A: “How hard I play. It’s just from the love of the game and not being highly noticed and ranked. Just playing with a chip on my shoulder.”
Q: Which part of your game needs the most work right now? A: “Everything.” Q: Who was the player or matchup you enjoyed this season?
A: “Marcus Garrett from (Dallas) Skyline. I played him for the first time this summer in AAU in the championship at the (Great American Shootout). They won by a couple points.
“I heard he was a Kansas signee. At a camp the day before, everybody was talking about this 6-foot-5, 6-6 guard and he’s that dude. So I wanted to play against him to see how he was. I wanted it.
“He’s a really good player and he was as advertised. But we won this one. There was extra motivation and more at stake. My team hadn’t come this far to lose.”
Q: Just how crazy was playing a game that went to triple overtime against Skyline but neither team reached 50 points?
A: “It was crazy. We know how to play both the fast game and slowing it down, and we knew they were good with the ball and were tough rebounding. That was the slowest game I’ve ever played. We had to be patient.”
Q: With a starting lineup of five juniors, how have you guys handled the question of repeating that has already come up?
A: “Right now we celebrate. We’re celebrating our victory, and then when that time comes next year, we’ll worry about it. But we’ll just take it one thing at a time, one game at a time and one practice at a time.
“It’s a very long season and a very long road. And it was not easy.”