Mohawk Valley's Men's Basketball team took on Broome Community College on Saturday afternoon in a 4:00 PM contest against the Hornets. The Hawks took control early on an were able to build a 15 point lead in the 1st half over the highly talented Hornets.
As the game progressed the Hawks were able to tally 60 points in the paint in the contest which proved to be a key factor as the two teams battled on a snowy Saturday afternoon. Mohawk Valley utimately proved to be too much for Broome as they defeated the Hornets by a final score of 96-67.
Mohawk valley was led by 20 points from sophomore guard Jalen Bradberry on 50% shooting from the floor. Sophomore's Khai Pugh and Jamir Smith combined for 27 points and 11 assists. Forwards Andre Pasha and Alex Barnhill continued their stellar play as the duo controlled the glass and put up another afternoon of efficient scoring and production as Pasha tallied 12 points and 7 rebounds & Barnhill 10 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals. Cam Pownall put together another impressive outing with 9 points, and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes of action, and Isaiah Earl contributed 10 points on 5/8 shooting including an array of dunks. Javon Smith also was an intergeral part of the Hawks success as his athletcism sparked a Hawks run partway through the second half. He contributed 7 points for the the green and white.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
On day 2 of the weekend, Mohawk Valley took on Tompkins Cortland. Early on the two teams battled back and forth with a high level of physicality on both ends of the floor. Mohawk Valley was able to gain some momentum however, and with a great display of balanced scoring the Hawks led by 11 at the break following a Cam Pownall buzzer beating finish.
As the second half began, the Hawks took control and led by as many as 22 points with 17 minutes remaining in the contest following a Javon Smith rim rocking dunk in transition.
However, the pesky Panthers battled back and were able to fight back in the final minutes of the contest. With the Panthers ultimately taking the lead by 2 with under 2 minutes remaining, Jalen Bradberry launched a deep three in transition to take the lead back from the Panthers. On the ensueing possession, some great ball movement by TC3 allowed them to get a quick finish at the rim to go back up by 1.
The Hawks transition drive was cut off and knocked out of bounds by the Panthers setting up a timeout underneath the basket, with the Hawks down 1 with just 30 second remaining.
Mohawk drew up a play which led to an Andre Pasha layup to take the lead for Mohawk Valley once again with just 25 second remaining in the contest. Some great defense by the Hawks on the final possession led to a TC3 turnover and ultimately the Hawks holding on to seal the victory 71-70 over the Panthers.
The Hawks were led by Jamir Smith who had 24 points on the afternoon including 5 three pointers. Jalen Bradberry continued his stellar play adding 16 points and 4 three pointers of his own. Andre Pasha added a double double of 10 points and 13 rebounds, and his counterpart Alex Barnhill put together a double double of his own with 10 points and 10 rebound despite playing much of the game through foul trouble. Furthermore, Khai Pugh put together his second quality performance in 2 days as he filled the stat sheet with 8 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 steals and a number of timely defensive plays to help seal the victory for the Mohawk Valley Hawks.
The victory brings the #3 National Ranked Hawks to 10-0 at the close of the 1st semester. "We talk alot about adversity to prosperity and today was a prime example of that. We stayed connected even when things got difficult and I was very proud of that."- Coach Harley Fuller said following the victory.