Just imagine if Leondre Lintz had played the whole first half as well. He didn't, picking up two quick fouls in the first 3 minutes and sitting out the rest of the half.

Coach Jonathan James knew he needed Lintz in the second half, "I knew he needed to sit because we couldn't afford to have Lee pick up his third foul in the first half as much as we need him on the court."

Lintz made up for his time sitting in the first half as he came out in the second half like a tiger unchained. Lintz scored 36 points in the second half to finish with 38 in the game which is his high for the season. Lintz finished with 13 of 17 from the field including his 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. He continued his strong free throwing with a 9 of 11 night from the charity stripe although it unfortunately drops him to second in the state for shooting percentage from the foul line.

Lintz knew the second half was special after he knocked down his second shot, "I just knew my teammates needed me to be there for them and once a couple shots fell I knew could do the job, it just looked like the hoop was huge and everything was going to go in everytime I shot the ball."

Jordan Roberson added 14 points for the Hawks along with 5 rebounds. Khari Hutt played well in Lintz's downtime scoring 12 and dishing out 7 dimes. Victor Wariso scored four points but played solid defense with 9 rebounds against the Pirates.

Trevor Hooper was huge off the bench scoring 9 points and playing strong defense. Also playing a large role off the bench was Bolaji Famuyiwa who had just two points, but grabbed 11 rebounds in helping the Hawks transition game.

The Hawks are now 12-11 on the year and are 3-5 in the Big 8 with hopes of making the playoffs still alive with the win. 

Next up for the Hawks is a road trip to Santa Rosa on Tuesday night at 7:30 followed by a home game on Friday night against Sacramento City at 7:30pm.