Howard Classic Recap
It would seem that Men's Basketball made the 'Nice List' this year as Santa came early through Big Spring and delivered 3 victories to the Hawks (Not that they needed Santas help.) Over the weekend, Howard hosted the Howard Classic: A 6 team, 3-day event spanning over Dec. 6th, 7th and 8th and included Ranger College, Western Texas, NOC Tonkawa, Midland College and North Idaho.
Howard and North Idaho concluded the Friday night slate with Howard coming out victorious 77-61 over the Cardinals. Offense was the story of the game for the Hawks with 5 players scoring in double figures and Forward Jahki Gupton leading the Hawks with 18 points, going 3-5 from the arc and a perfect 5-5 from the line, all in just 20 minutes. King Soloman provided a huge spark off the bench with 15 points all coming from Three, going an outstanding 62 % in only 13 minutes. Propelled by such strong offensive outings, The Hawks finished the evening going an admirable 43.5% from the field, an excellent 45% from deep and just as sharp from the free-throw line hitting 13-17.
Saturday night was a 2 man show as The Hawks defeated Norther Oklahoma-Tonkawa 94-67. Forward Priest Ryan stuffed the stat sheet pouring in 20 points, missing only 2 shots the entire game. Ryan would hit on all his three-pointers and go 3-4 from the stripe with 5 boards and a steal. The star of the night was guard Keziah Ekissi who went absolutely nuclear. Ekissi finished the night with 33 points on 12-16 shooting and going a blistering 7-10 from the 3-point line. Ekissi would also add 4 rebounds, 2 dimes and a steal all while committing only a single turn-over. Lifted up by the help of Ekissi's stellar night, The Hawks finished the night with a remarkable 66.7% from the field, making over half their 3-pointers and shooting an exceptional 81% from the line only missing 2 total FT's. All this made possible by Head Coach Kyle Cooper who earned his 100th career victory this same night. A fitting way to earn such a feat as the team played beautiful basketball all thanks to the leadership, coaching, and tutelage of Coach Cooper. When asked about the second victory in as many nights, Daniel Culberson exclaimed,
" We exceeded expectations with energy and effort while playing and staying together the whole weekend"
Sunday would be the battle of the unbeatens as Howard would take on Ranger College with both teams standing at 2-0 on the weekend. Both teams were evenly matched going into the half with The Hawks up 36-32. The teams depth and defense would ultimately prevail as The Hawks would pull away down the stretch emerging victorious 81-64, going undefeated through the weekend and winning The Howard Classic. The Hawks stout defense held Ranger to abysmal shooting numbers going 36% from the field, going 9-27 from 3 a lackluster 41% from the charity stripe and forcing 16 turnovers. Offensively the depth was on display as Daniel Culberson came off the bench scoring 23 points. Culberson was near perfect on the night missing only 3 shots going 7-9 from the field, 5-6 from 3 and perfect from the line. Priest Ryan led all scores with 24 and nearly missed out on a double-double reeling in 9 boards with 2 dimes, 2 blocks and a steal. King Solomon after the 3 game sweep commented,
"glad we got to win all 3 and that everyone did what they needed to do to finish the semester out on a good note."
After the Classic, Howard would finish the weekend with a 4 game win streak and are undefeated at home standing at 7-0. Coach Cooper on the weekend and the sweep,
"I was very happy with our effort this weekend. There's a lot of stuff to get better at but I thought we played hard and together. Now we have to get ready for WJCAC play"
The Hawks will break for the end of the fall semester and will resume play on January 6th vs New Mexico Military Institute.