The CRC Hawks basketball season came to an end on the the 22nd against a strong Cabrillo Seahawks team who held on for a two point victory in the Northern California Regional playoff game. The Hawks needed to win to get into the 16 team NorCal bracket.

Cabrillo came in as a conference champion and played like it with strength inside against the scrappy Hawks who never gave up despite being the last seed to try to play in as well as being the lowest of the seven Big 8 Conference seeds to get to the playoffs.

In the first half both teams held their own, in their own way. Cabrillo worked the ball inside to their conference mvp Linton Acliese who dominated against the Hawks post players who gave away height but not heart. Acliese went for 19 in the first half as the Seahawks took a 42-37 lead into the break.

The Hawks second half defense took away the Cabrillo inside power and limited Acliese to just 5 points in the second half as the Hawks shooters started to warm up. The Hawks trailed by 11 points with 2:49 left and looked like they weren't getting the good shots and Leondre Lintz drives to the hoop were fruitless.

Ah, but the three point shooting of the Hawks brought them back, with some help from some timely Seahawk turnovers. Jordan Roberson hit several deep threes and Lintz made an acrobatic three without an and one that could have been called. Getting the ball back with just a scant few seconds on the clock, the Hawks hustled the ball up court but a heads up play by the Seahawks to steal the ball brought an end to the game and season. 

Roberson led the Hawks in scoring off the bench with 23 going 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. Lintz dropped 20 on the Seahawks with 4 of 8 past the 3 point line. Khari Hutt added 14 points and with 7 rebounds led the team. Unfortunately Hutt fouled out in the second half and was not a force during the Hawks mad scramble at the finish.

Victor Wariso, Dé Rajaee Austin, and Robert Tolbert all had 6 points for the Hawks to round out their scoring on the night.

Although the Hawks finished with a 13-17 record overall on the year, that record doesn't really show just how hard the Hawks battled throughout each week of the season, or how tough the Big 8 conference really is. With the departing sophomores, the Hawks will be another young team next year, but will be a team that has several real shooters that can light it up any given night. If the Hawks can bring in some height in the front court there could be more noise next year in the playoffs.