Hawks pull away in second half
Senior Good leads team with 27 points
Brookfield — Simply put, HOPE Christian took care of business Tuesday night.
The Hawks boys basketball team started perhaps the biggest week of its season with a 73-65 victory over Brookfield Academy that gave it sole possession of first place in the Midwest Classic Conference, and for a few hours a chance to enjoy the view from the top.
Wednesday, however, it’s back to work in preparation for a game Thursday against rival Messmer in what will be a match-up of the league’s top team against a squad that is second.
If the Hawks play anything like they did Tuesday, Messmer will have its hands full. Led by senior forward Courtney Good’s 27 points, HOPE (10-4, 7-1) attacked the lane in the second half and broke open a twopoint game to lead by as many as 10 down the stretch.
“The difference was the team was getting involved. We were playing harder,” Good said. “This is a time when we have to prove ourselves. It’s a moment in our career that we have to step up and rise and play. It was just the fire inside of us that was burning.”
The victory was the seventh straight in the league for HOPE with the last three coming on the road.
Good, who bounced back nicely from a four-point showing in a victory over Lake Country Lutheran on Friday, had 13 points in the second half. Junior guard Tyrik Scott and sophomore forward Demetrius Lewis added 12 each.
Brookfield Academy (7-7, 6-2) got 25 points from 6-foot-10 senior center Alex Setzer. Freshman guard Aidan Clarey added 16 points, and senior forward Zachary Krohn added 12 points, all on three-pointers.
Knights coach Pat Clarey wanted to see more toughness from his young team.
“This game will find the situation, whether it’s player vs. player or team vs. team. Who is going to surrender first. … I thought the HOPE kids were mentally tough at every position on the floor. They had a game plan and came out and executed.”
Both teams had their moments in the first half.
HOPE, capitalizing on Brookfield Academy turnovers, went on a 15-3 run that started with about 11 minutes left and gave it a 25-14 lead with 7 minutes to go. Brookfield Academy, however, went on 16-0 run that gave it a 30-25 advantage with 3 minutes to go.
The Hawks, however, got a three-pointer from Good, a layup from sophomore guard Jahmarquoe Metcalf and a layup from Scott off a nice spin in the lane to close the half with a 7-0 run and take a 32-30 advantage at the half.
“We knew coming in that all Pat has done since he took over the boys is won and we knew they would be younger this year, but that they’d be ready to go,” HOPE coach Christian Arvold said. “It was just an emphasis on we’ve got to find something deeper.”
The Hawks were full throttle in the final 18 minutes. The key was a 12-3 run over 3 minutes that turned a 38-37 HOPE advantage into 50-40 with 111⁄2 minutes to play.
Eight of those points came by layup or an attack on the basket. Another bucket came off a loose ball.
Brookfield Academy pulled as close as five points in the final 90 seconds before HOPE closed out an especially key victory. Each Midwest Classic team faces one opponent just once and for Brookfield Academy and HOPE Christian this was it. Now it’s on to Messmer. “It’s a good feeling, but we’ve got to be right back at it at 7:30 in the morning," Good said. "It’s a good feeling right now, but we’ve got to go back to the gym. We’ve got to put in more work.”