By Carleen Surrena
@SURRENA_C
December was a good month for the men’s basketball squad. They didn’t lose a game, running off a 10-game win streak, including the first two games of the Coast Conference season.
So why was coach James Giacomazzi riding his team so hard?
Because success bred a bit of complacency for the Hawks. They snapped their win streak with 2 consecutive losses – a close defeat to Cañada College and a blowout loss to City College of San Francisco.
Losing to CCSF, ranked No. 2 in California, is nothing to be ashamed of, but the Hawks were routed and that didn’t sit well with Giacomazzi.
And now the quest is to get their mojo back.
“It seems like our attention to detail got lost the last two games,” Coach James Giacomazzi said. “Are we the 10-0 team or are we the team that just lost the last two? Are we tough enough to have that high, have this low and then bounce back?”
The men did just that on Weds Jan 27 against visiting Skyline College and were able to get the victory at home.
The Hawks controlled the tempo for most of the first half going into halftime with a 50-38 lead. Skyline was not going to go away quietly though.
The Hawks came out flat in the second half. They did not score for the first two minutes. Skyline scored the first 8 points and eventually tied the game 58-58 and at one point led 66-64.
The Hawks fought their way back with defense and capitalized on turnovers and missed shots by Skyline. The score was tied 71-71 with 8:30 left before the Hawks took over.
The men went on an 11-0 run in the end to outlast Skyline and come away with the win 89-75.
“As a team we need to take our opponents spirit away,” freshman guard Keith Hunter said. “Tonight wasn’t our best win but we will take it. We broke our losing streak and now we can focus on taking one game at a time. “
With half the season left the men are tied for second place in the conference with Chabot.
Their next game will be Friday 7 p.m. at Las Positas against Ohlone.