Devin Bradshaw
The Las Positas Hawks men’s basketball team season came to an earlier end than expected last season, falling for the second consecutive season to Skylar Chavez and the Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs.
After getting blown out by Santa Rosa in the 2018 playoffs, the Hawks high-powered offense allowed them to battle the Bear Cubs until the last couple minutes of their second round matchup in 2019. Turnovers proved to be costly in the end for the Hawks.
“We’ve been in the top 10 in scoring in the state of California every year that I’ve coached,” Head Coach James Giacomazzi said. “With that, you get a lot of possessions. When you have more possessions, you have the tendency to have more turnovers. We like to keep that number under 15.”
The Hawks finished with 20.
This will be a main factor going into next season for Giacomazzi to fix. The Hawks are already back in the gym preparing and Giacomazzi is out recruiting, bringing in players that will potentially help them advance deep into the playoffs next season.
The Hawks will have a new look next season, losing half the team including key sophomores Goose Persin who shot 42% from three point range and John Ketchel who averaged over eight assists a game.
The return of leading scorer Michael Hayes will be huge for the team next year.
Giacomazzi is keeping a close eye on his star and his progress throughout this offseason.
“We are helping him work on developing his off hand and his perimeter game. The big thing is that we are trying to get him ready for the top 100 (players) camp in Dallas.” Giacomazzi said.
“We also are working on him academically, making sure he stays on top of his work.”
The Hawks would love to break the cycle of losing early in the playoffs and Coach Giacomazzi believes a little luck and good players can change Las Positas’ fortunes.
With the return of Hayes and some new exciting recruits, Las Positas could be in position to make the deep playoff push they so desire.
