By Darren Lum

Published Jan. 3 2017

There’s a lot the senior Red Hawks can appreciate after a 46-39 loss to the visiting Fenelon Falls Secondary School Falcons in Kawartha High School Basketball League action on Monday Dec. 19 in Haliburton says assistant coach Dan Lapierre.
“Our team is full of hustlers. We hustle. We work hard. That’s the key to it. The rest of it will fall into place” he said.

With the Falcons being so strong on the drive and on the perimeter the Hawks were regularly tested defensively. The visitors had a balanced attack which included three players scoring double digits. Lapierre believes the team will improve on defence doing a better job at helping one another and not leaving an opponent open if given a second chance against a team like the Falcons.

He appreciated the mindset of his players even if it factored into scoring chances for the opponents.
“They played aggressively. They just made too many turnovers. Half of it was because they were playing aggressively. They got to take it down a notch and control it a little bit more and they did that in spurts. That’s part of the game” Lapierre said.
He counted at least four turnovers from trying to initiate the offence too soon when one of his players would try to dribble and run the floor before allowing the Falcons’ players to clear the zone.

Except for the first quarter the Hawks never led and played from a deficit all game.
Hawks player Kyle Cooper’s successful scoring drive with a little more than a minute left in the third quarter  drew the red and white to within three points 32-29 – their lowest deficit since the first.
The Falcons responded as they did all game with an 8-0 run punctuated by a three-pointer buzzer beater to stretch the lead to 37-29 to end the third.
Haliburton didn’t go away. True to character as outlined by Lapierre the team continued to work and had a strong half but could not get the stops they needed for a sustained run to overcome the seven-point halftime deficit and win. Both teams scored 21 in the second half.

Haliburton drops to 1-1 on the regular season and the Falcons improved to 1-2 as of Dec. 20.

Senior Hawks rookie Sam Longo led the team with 11 points followed by Cooper with seven points Sage Christiano and Collin Martin each with six points.
After the Hawks scheduled home opener against the Wildcats of I.E. Weldon was cancelled due to weather the Falcons game became the home opener by default. This game has been scheduled for Monday Jan. 23 starting at 3 p.m.
Lapierre wasn’t worried and is confident in his team’s potential.
“The season is young. We’ll get there” he said.