COD Men’s Basketball falls in close match up with the Hawks

COD (0-9) took a six point lead at the half, holding a tough Santiago Canyon Hawks (13-3) team down, but a 10-4 run to close out the game by the Hawks doomed the home side as the Roadrunners fell, 87-77.

The Roadrunners dominated the first half of play as Santiago Canyon could not gain any distance on Desert. Both teams traded huge shots and the Roadrunners would pull away, then the Hawks would start storming back. Desert shot 41.7% from the field in the first half, compared to Santiago Canyon, which shot a paltry 29%. Both teams' percentages were much closer from three-point range, as the Roadrunners were 2 of 11 from beyond the arc and the Hawks were 2 of 12.

Desert would go on a 10-2 run during a four minute stretch midway through the first half, going from being tied at 8-8 to up 18-10 with 10:04 remaining in the half. The Roadrunners would hold onto their lead going into the break, taking a six point lead, 35-29.

The Hawks would open up the second half on an 11-2 run, but Desert would roar back, dropping a huge 14-2 run on Santiago Canyon, punctuated by an "And-One" by sophomore starting guard Philippe Salawa (Fontana A.B. Miller) and a three-pointer from freshman forward Sylvester Franklin (Palm Springs H.S.). The 14-2 run gave the Roadrunners a 51-42 lead with 12:25 left in the game.

With 8:55 remaining in the game, the Desert shooters went cold, freezing cold, as the Hawks rolled off an impressive 13-0 run, grabbing a 67-63 lead, a lead that Santiago Canyon would not relinquish with 6:18 left in the game.

Salawa led all scorers with 31 points on 10 of 19 shooting, including going 10 for 12 from the free throw line and Franklin led the Roadrunners off of the bench, with 14 points on 4 of 8 shooting, including going 5 for 6 from the charity stripe in the loss.

Sophomore starting guard Weijie Zhang (Carlsbad Army-Navy) added 13 points on 6 of 13 shooting and freshman forward Joseph Fowler (Rohnert Park Rancho Cotate) leapt off of the bench to lead the team in total rebounds with nine.

Photo by Rodrigo Pena
Information, Photos & Story provided by COD Sports Information.