Sr. Boys Basketball: Hawks victorious over Sabres

Sabre Aaron Brown tries to get past Hawk Kory Geddes 

Chris Davis and Toni Lucas

The Sr. Boys Halton Hawks Basketball team hosted the Livingstone Sabres at Matthew Halton High School on the evening of January 7.  These evenly matched and highly competitive teams were a joy to watch, as the score climbed and the play intensified.

Aaron Brown of the Sabres was a phenomenon, scoring 39 points in the game, a long way ahead of his nearest competition, Hawks' Carlos Burgo, who scored a highly respectable 29 points himself.

An epic confrontation between the Livingstone Sabres and the Halton Hawks Senior Boys teams

C. Davis photo 

The Hawks came out strong in the first quarter, with Burgo scoring 8 big points to ensure the lead for his team, 20-10.  Livingstone pulled it together in the second quarter, edging the Hawks 10-9.  In the third quarter, both teams again demonstrated how closely matched they were, with the Hawks taking it 25-24.  In the final quarter, Burgo turned the heat up again, collecting 12 points, with Sabres' Aaron Brown right behind him with 11 points. Another quarter with a one point difference: Sabres 20 and Hawks 19.

Sr. Boys Basketball: Sabres vs Hawks
C. Davis photos/video

Cord Delinte was another standout player for the Sabres, scoring a total of 11 points in the game and keeping the pressure on throughout.  Two very strong athletes, Ferlin Crowshoe and Graham Milligan,  scored 13 points each for the Hawks, .

In the final analysis, Hawks' performance in the first quarter made the necessary difference, including Burgo's strong performance.  Hawks take it 73-66 in an epic battle of the court.

"We had a slow start," said pragmatic Coach Delinte of the Sabres after the game.  "We got through to halfway and started to come back, then we ran out of steam at the end, and just couldn't pull of any key shots."  He outlined some of the challenges his team has faced this season.  "We had some guys on the injury list, and they're just coming back now," he said.  "We're trying to get them back in the groove.  We had some problems with numbers, we didn't have enough players before, we're up to eight players now.  We started off the season well, and then we've had a few guys not keep their marks up, and a few that got sick and inured, and now we're down to a skeleton crew.  We're going to keep working on it."

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