Hawks soar past Cougars
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GAME 1: SAULT COUGARS vs HUMBER HAWKS
SAULT STE. MARIE – After facing the division leading Falcons last weekend the Cougars were facing another hot team coming in to this weekend as the Humber Hawks had won 4 straight looking to make it 5 in game 1 of the 2 game weekend series. Humber played like they wanted the 5th consecutive win in the 1st quarter getting out to 14-2 lead. Cougars coach Pat Murray took a time out to settle things down, which seemed to work as the Cougars offence got going with Simon Wal hitting for 7 points and Jaylyne Moore-Tucker hitting for 4. Humber would hold the lead at the end of the 1st quarter 28-15.
The Cougars offence continued to get better in the 2nd as they climbed back into contention after a slow start to the game. The Cougars would shoot 5-10 (50%) in 3's in the quarter with four different players hitting shots from behind the arc. Mahier Mohamed would lead the team in the 2nd with 8 points, but despite the 3 point shooting from the Sault, they would find themselves down going into the half 54-37.
The Cougars would keep pace with the Hawks in the 3rd while exchanging baskets early on to keep the game within reach. The Cougars would do most of their damage in the paint as Kevon Clarke scored a gritty 8 points, as did Stephen Miller who went to the line 3 times going 6-6 in free throws.
With the game still within reach the Hawks stepped on the gas in the 4th to pull away. The Hawks' Fowzi Mohamoud hit two big 3's and never looked back as they would cruise the rest of the way in the 4th to a 105-73 win.
Cougars Scoring: Jaylyne Moore-Tucker (15 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals), Kevon Clarke (13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals), Stephen Miller (13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists).
GAME 2: SAULT COUGARS vs HUMBER HAWKS
SAULT STE. MARIE – The Cougars came into game 2 thinking of ways to stop the red hot Hawks, now on a 5 game win streak and eyeing to extend it to 6. A big 1st quarter by Kevon Clarke was a good start as Clarke scored 10 points and hauled in 5 rebounds to be a factor on both ends of the court. Jaylyne Moore-Tucker added 5 points to keep the game close at 21-17 going into the 2nd.
The 2nd quarter started with an offensive surge by the Cougars, who were able to cut the Humber lead to 2 points half way through the frame at 30-28 thanks to play from Mahier Mohamed and Stephen Miller off the bench. The Hawks then went on a run of their own to go up 10 going into the half with a 43-33 lead over the Sault.
Humber would keep pressing hard for consecutive win #6 in the second half as their offense only continued to get better as the game wore on. Simon Wal scored 13 in the second half to lead the Cougars scoring but they couldn't claw back into the game with Humber shooting 49.4% from the field in the game (56.5% in the 4th) and 9 of 10 Hawks players scoring as Humber won the 6th in a row and handed the Cougars a 96-60 loss.
Cougars Scoring: Simon Wal (18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks), Kevon Clarke (12 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks), Stephen Miller (10 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals).