By CotoBlogzz
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The first game for the Hawks was a rematch of the sectional tournament against the Anaheim Raiders ending the first half with a lead of 40 to 8 and a final score of 70 to 30. Hawks big men off the bench Matranga, Montes, Garmin, and Blue came into the game early and dominated the boards along with speedy guard Campbell out on the break. Hawks starters Jackson, Jones, Kafentzis, Rasheed, and Reed trapped the Raiders all over the court as the Raiders could not even get a shot off because of the Hawks size and speed. The Hawks “Dream” had one game under their belt as they
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Next up for the Hawks were
the number four seed the Sequoia Eskimos from Anchorage Alaska riding a 17 game
winning streak. The Hawks started the
game with Center Reed tipping to
Jackson who hits a streaking Kafentzis for a
layup igniting the 800 screaming Hawks fans and the Hawks jumped all
over Sequoia. The Hawks then went into
a full court press with Guards Rasheed ,Jones and Kafentzis trapping the Eskimos
all over the court causing multiple turnovers that were quickly turned into too
layups. Swingman Jackson was slicing and dicing through the lane for
highlight hoops. Center Reed dominated the boards with his rebounding and
outlet passing to a Kafentzis and Jones as the Hawks fast break took over
the game. Sharp shooting guard Rasheed continued to hit NBA 3s. The Hawks
advanced to the Final Four with a score of 60 to 43.
The Final Four held at Brea
Olinda HS featured on one side of the bracket Yorba Linda Red vs. Vallejo
Hustlers and the other side featured RSM Hawks vs. Gilroy Ballers from the corn
fields of Indiana.
The first game matched the
two hottest teams in the nation with Gilroy riding a 42 game winning streak and
the Hawks winning 33 out of the last 34 games.
Immediately, the Hawks scored a
tip play, Rasheed buried a 3 from 20 feet and Kafentzis picked the pocket of
one of the guards and the Hawks led 7 to 0 30 seconds into the game.
Coach Reed’s pre-game
instructions were for the Hawks Jackson
and Reed to beat their man down the floor every time to tire out “Big Country”.
Hawks big men Jackson, Reed, Garmin and Blue responded by running the floor
with authority and tiring out the Gilroy big men and sending “Big Country” to
the bench fatigued. Hawks guards Jones, Rasheed, Kafentzis proved to be too
quick and athletic for the Gilroy back court as they trapped all over the court
and continued to fire freely from outside for multiple 3s. When Gilroy tried to
take away the guard play the veteran Hawks backcourt quickly moved the ball
inside to Jackson, Blue and Reed as the big men for the Hawks dominated the
paint. At half the Hawks lead 32 to 18. The second was no different as the
Hawks bigs Jackson, Blue, Garmin and Reed continued to own the
boards and the Hawks continued to outlet pass down the court to the speedy
Campbell ,Jones, Rasheed, and Kafentzis as the Hawks advanced to the National
Title game by crushing the team from the Indiana corn fields 63 to
44.
The Brea Olinda arena was packed
with busloads of screaming Hawks fans as the number one seed took the floor to
meet the powerful team from Michigan the Vallejo Hustlers. The Hawks clearly
had the home court advantage , but they were
quickly reminded why Vallejo had
traveled so far: Vallejo
quickness and aggressive style caused problems for the Hawks as Hawks big men
Reed and Jackson had to go to the bench early in foul trouble. Power forward
Blue and backup Center Garmin came off the bench to settle the Hawks down as
the first quarter ended and the Hawks were only up 12 to 11.
Rasheed and Kafentzis got it
going in the second quarter from downtown to put the Hawks up by 7 with 2
minutes to go in the half. The Hawks
went to the locker room at the half to be reminded by Coach Reed and Montes
that we the Hawks still had the lead and there was no reason to panic. Coach Reed also reminded the veteran team of
their Dream and that now is the Hawks
time to achieve that Dream.
The Hawks came out the second
half with their best defensive performance of the tournament as guards Rasheed,
Jones and Kafentzis smoothed the Vallejo guards .Big men Blue, Reed and Jackson
once again despite foul trouble dominated the boards and held the Vallejo to
six points in the 3rd quarter
as the Hawks crowd were on their feet with a 17 point lead at the end of
the 3rd. Jones, Rasheed and Kafentzis continued their back court
dominance of the tournament as the Vallejo guards found themselves in
unfamiliar territory facing the size, speed, and outside shooting from the
Hawks guards. Jackson and Blue got it going early in the fourth with inside
scoring as the Hawks improved their lead to 20 points with 5 minutes to go. But
Vallejo would not give up as they cut the lead to 13 with two to play. Hawks
center Reed quickly crabbed a rebound off the glass and hit the racing Jackson
the length of the court as he wiggled between two defenders for a fast break
hoop that brought the nervous Hawks crowd to their feet. Jones stole the
inbounds pass and attacked the basket for a 3-point play to again fire up the
Hawk bench and crowd. Vallejo answered with a pair of free throws, but
Hawks guard Rasheed quickly hit another 3 from the corned and Kafentzis
stripped the Vallejo guard on the next play and also buried a deep 3 to put the
Hawks up 20 with 50 seconds to go. The Hawk crowd remained on their feet as the RSM Hawks became the
first 8th grade boys
to team to win the All-Net National Title by a score of 60 to 40.
Not only does the Hawks set a 21 year
National Tournament record by outscoring their opponents by an average of
24 points per game, but also, his marks Coach Reed's 5th All-Net National Title.
Hail to the RSM National
Champs
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