By Taylour Sparkman and Gibran Beydoun
Staff Writers
Freshman wing Malik Jackson saved his biggest performance for the biggest game.
His 21 points propelled the men’s basketball team to an 86-76 win over the Porterville College Pirates in the second round of CCCAA Regionals. It was the most the Dublin High grad has scored for Las Positas, which scored its first postseason win since 2017. He also had seven rebounds and four assists.
The No. 5-seeded Hawks advance to the third round of the NorCal bracket to face No. 4 Columbia on Saturday.
“He was just really efficient with what he was doing,” Hawks head coach James Giacomazzi said. “He was being aggressive, but he was being efficient.”
Las Positas finished the regular season as the sixth highest-scoring team in California. That offensive prowess was on display in the Hawks’ first home playoff game since 2016. Jackson spearheaded an attack that started outside and worked its way towards the rim. The starting five combined for 63 points, nearly three-quarters of the Hawks total output.
Jackson opened the game with a 3-pointer, setting the tone for how the first half would go. Dathan Satchell followed with back-to-back 3s.
Still, the Pirates took the early lead, going ahead 17-11 with 13:28 left in the first half. “They had more energy at the beginning of the game,” said point guard Lee Jones Jr.
But Las Positas was hot from the outside. The Hawks went on to make nine first-half 3-pointers. They only made seven two-point shots over the first 20 minutes. It was enough to snatch the momentum and take a 43-35 lead into halftime.
Then they came out of the locker room with a different approach. The Hawks went inside to use their size and penetration to take control of the game.
Big man Jordahn Johnson went to work for 10 of his 12 points. Jackson used his one-on-one skills to drive into the lane to break down the defense. After taking just three free throws in the first half, Las Positas took 15 in the second half. Jackson was 5 of 6.
They also turned it up a notch on the defensive side.
“I think we did a better job of locking down on defense, transitioning on offensive plays, and it helped us rally,” Jones said. “We stayed locked in after we started makings hots. We were still able to maintain our defense and hold them off. They didn’t have that offensive flow anymore. They [kept] trying different schemes to switch the momentum back on their side.”
The Hawks didn’t completely abandon the 3-pointer. Guard Jorren Edmonds made some critical ones to keep Porterville at Bay.
“He did a good job of really knocking down some timely three-pointers,” Giacomazzi said of Edmonds.
“That first 10 minutes was a boxing match. They had us on the ropes,” the coach added. “We were able to respond and dictate the pace of the game in the last 30 minutes or so.”
Edmonds finished with 13 points to go with his eight rebounds. He was one of seven Hawks players to make at least half their shots and one of four players who scored double figures.
The Hawks have won three straight since losing to the City College of San Francisco, No. 1 in the state. In the last 28 games, the only team to beat the Hawks is San Francisco. Their only other defeat this season was an overtime loss to Butte in the season opener back in November.
A win on Saturday could set up another showdown with San Francisco.
Four Hawks players receive conference recognition
The team success of the Las Positas men’s basketball team produced some individual honors.
Jordahn Johnson, Dathan Satchell and Lee Jones Jr. were named First Team All-Coast Conference for the North Division, giving Las Positas a quarter of the 12 players selected. Both Malik Jackson and Jorren Edmonds were named honorable mention for the all-conference team. Jackson and Edmonds were also named to the All-Defensive team.
Johnson was also named co-Freshman of the Year, along with San Francisco CIty’s Mezziah Oakman.
