The Ringwood Hawks finally showed a glimpse of just how good they can be on Saturday night when they demolished the third placed Warrnambool Seahawks by an astounding 35 points at Maroondah Sports Centre.

The Hawks started strongly from the tip off building a double figure lead before letting the Seahawks back into the game midway through the second quarter. But back to back three pointers from Damien Smith and a big lift from Michael Beer off the bench steadied the Hawks who enjoyed a 16 point half time lead.

With Luke McMillan (23 points) and Jason Eversteyn (20 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocks) terrorizing the Seahawks inside the key and Willie Weimer (14 points and 11 rebounds) keeping Bobby Cunningham reasonably quiet on the perimeter, the Hawks gradually built their lead, breaking the Seahawks spirit along the way eventually cruising to their biggest win of the season.

Co-captain Damien Smith (23 points) did a great job of keeping Seahawks American Curtis Small to only 11 points, Small’s season low in scoring, while Matt Snowball had a memorable all round game with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 steals. Michael Beer recorded a career best 11 points.

Hawks Coach Ken Harrington was pleased with the win and paid tribute to his players’ ability to follow a game plan.

“We had a plan, we followed it for 48 minutes and it worked well,” Harrington said. “Willie and Damien worked hard defensively on 2 of the best players in the league while Jase and Luke really took advantage of their smaller opponents.”

The Hawks also implemented a more up tempo style offence that may become their trademark for the rest of the season. The speed of Smith, Beer, Weimer, Giles and Matt Snowball was too much for the Seahawks and may also test some of the other top teams in the final 6 weeks of the season.

The Hawks finals aspirations are still alive but Hawks fans will have to wait another week as the Big V takes a rest next weekend for the Queens Birthday long weekend. The Hawks will travel to Diamond Valley the following week in another must win game that will put the Hawks right back into the finals mix with only 8 games remaining.

Ringwood Hawks 122 (McMillan 23, Smith 23, Eversteyn 20) defeated Warrnambool Seahawks 87 (Cunningham 19, Birch 15)

Article courtesy of www.ringwood.basketball.net.au