Hawks Snatch Win Away From Owls

The College of Southern Maryland men's basketball team beat the Prince George's Community College Owls 132-121 in overtime on November 26.

With 1:24 left on the game clock, CSM trailed 105-98. Sophomore Warrick Godwin then scored four unanswered points to bring the Hawks within three with 33 seconds left.

After hitting a free throw, the Owls went up 106-102 with 24 seconds left in the game.

On the next play, freshman Shawn Barclay was able to get to the hoop and score to make it 106-104 with 16 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, CSM fouled Prince George's quickly to send them to the free-throw line for two shots with 14 seconds left. Prince George's missed them both.

CSM got the rebound and started pushing up the floor. The ball ended up in Barclay's hands, and again, he found his way to the hoop where he was able to put in the tying basket with six seconds remaining in regulation.

Prince George's could not score on their next possession, so the game headed to overtime tied 106-106.

CSM controlled the final period. They went on a 7-0 run to start overtime, and after Prince George's converted a 3-point play, the Hawks went on a 7-2 run to go up 120-111 with 1:48 left.

The Hawks held onto their lead the rest of the way to grab their first conference win of the season.

"It just shows what we're made of," CSM head coach Alan Hoyt said. "There were probably some points earlier before this where I wasn't sure if maybe we did have it. We've kind of underperformed so far, and for us to dig in right there and make that stand probably changes the direction of the season."

Sophomore Lelan Eackles had a career-high 39 points, going 12-18 from the floor and 3-6 from behind the 3-point line. He also went 12-17 from the free-throw line. Eackles secured his fifth double-double of the season with his 11 rebounds.

Of his team gutting out the win, Eackles said, "Me and my guys, we all bond, we go through adversity, but every team does that. The way my guys respond to it is just incredible. I've never been with a team that's responded like that."

Godwin was the second-leading scorer for the Hawks with 24 points. He also had four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Freshman Armon Williams scored the most points off the bench for CSM and led the team in assists, providing 23 points and seven assists. Sophomore Amir Lawrence recorded a double-double coming off the bench, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He also had four steals, three assists, and one block.

"This is a game that we could have put away early and went away with, but I definitely think we gained more from the experience by the way it went," Hoyt said.