LEMOORE, Calif. — Hawks’ guard Dathan Satchell came out of the locker room at Golden Eagles Arena with his head down, his Mamba Focus Nikes in his hands. He walked briskly past his teammates as he rushed to get to the team bus. His eyes were fire-truck red when he wiped tears from his cheeks.
The sophomore had just played his last game, capping a memorable career since transferring to Las Positas from Casper Community College.
But this wasn’t the time for big-picture perspective. The Hawks had a state championship in their reach. And it slipped away.
In it’s 31st game, on a stage it had never reached before, against one of the hottest teams in California, The Hawks simply ran out of gas.
They couldn’t score over the last five minutes. They couldn’t stop guard Roy Clarke and forwards Matthew Mayes and Kalique Mitchell of West Los Angeles. They couldn’t hold up against the pressure defense. In the most crucial part of the game, when it came time to make one more push, their tank was empty.
The Wildcats, the No. 1 seed in SoCal, capitalized with a surge down the stretch. Las Positas lost 77-64 on Friday, March 11, missing a chance to advance to the final four of the California Community College Athletic Association state championship bracket.
The Hawks’ dream season is over.
“For what this team did, not a lot of people were expecting,” Hawks head coach James Giacomazzi said. “Really, really proud of this team.”
After a back-and-forth battle for most of the game, Las Positas found itself down six points with 5:04 left on the clock. The Wildcats ripped off a 7-0 run.
Gavin Davis had four points (two free throws and a layup) in the final run and Roy Clarke hit a three at the 3:59 mark that put West LA up 73-64 and put Las Positas on the ropes. With time evaporating, the Hawks couldn’t get anything going.
Their last basket came at the 6:40 mark on a layup by freshman center Jordahn Johnson, cutting the Wildcats lead to 70-64. But the Hawks didn’t score again. They missed their next seven shots plus committed two turnovers the rest of the way.
Johnson had another lights-out performance. He finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, this after tallying 26 points and 18 rebounds in the win at Columbia to get Hawks in the state bracket.
Sophomore forward Dathan Satchell finished with 15 points. But it took him 17 shots to get them. All of his came from behind the arc as he shot 5 of 14 from 3-point range.
Las Positas, which ranked No. 7 in the state in scoring, struggled on offense. The Hawks haven’t scored this few points the entire season. They made just 41 percent of their shots, missed 13 of their 23 threes and turned the ball over 18 times. West L.A. scored 16 points off of Las Positas miscues.
“For the first time this year, we turned the ball over more than we’ve ever done,” Giacomazzi said. “Secondly, we didn’t make shots at a higher clip, and we just missed shots that we normally make.”
Both teams were expected to get on the fast break throughout the game. It worked for the Hawks early. A 3-pointer by Isaiah Victor put Las Positas ahead 14-5 four-and-a-half minutes into the game.
The Hawks didn’t surrender the lead until the 10-minute mark in the first half when they trailed 22-20. When West LA made its run, the Hawks rode Johnson. He scored 10 points over the next eight minutes to keep Las Positas in striking distance.
“They like to get up and down the court, we like to get up and down the court,” West L.A. coach Anthony Jones said. “So I knew it was going to be an exciting game.”
The Wildcats brought the full court press throughout the entire game, which made things difficult for the Hawks when moving the ball down the floor.
West L.A. isn’t a great 3-pointing shooting team. They made just five on Friday. But their relentless attacking eventually pounded the Hawks into submission. The Wildcats were 18-for-24 from the free throw line. Las Positas was 4 of 6.
“We just got stagnant against their press,” Giacomazzi said. “They have long and athletic guards and we couldn’t see a lot over the top. We didn’t make them pay for pressing us like that.”
The Hawks started feeling it in the second half, managing just 28 points after halftime. Seven players had at least two turnovers.
Still, with 9:40 left, the game was tied at 60 thanks to another Victor 3-pointer. But the Hawks would never take the lead again. The threes stopped dropping. The inside game wasn’t enough. The defense couldn’t stop West L.A. The season was slipping away. The best team in Las Positas history couldn’t stop it.
