Hawks go down to Blue Bears, 74-69

Published 9:06 am Monday, February 27, 2017

CHARLOTTE, N.C.
It started rough and it ended rough for the Hawks of Chowan University. The Hawks were competing in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Basketball Tournament at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a game played on Thursday.

The Hawks, seeded No. 3 in the north division of the CIAA, were pitted against the No. 2 of the southern division of the CIAA Blue Bears of Livingstone College.

The Blue Bears opened the game strong and controlling the lead with an early 6-0 score in the opening minutes of the game. By the mid-way mark of the half, the Blue Bears had pushed their lead to its biggest point of 23-9. By the 7:25 mark, the Hawks had battled back to a score of 23-18, but the Blue Bears went on a run again and pushed it up to 33-21 with 2:54 remaining in the half.

The Hawks, again pumping up their scoring, also went on a run in the final minute of the half. Tim Hewett connected on a 3-point basket and Carlos Arroyo hit a jumper to close the score to 33-32 at the half.

Opening the second half of the game, the teams traded leads a few times before the Hawks took control and ran the score to their highest lead 57-48 at the 11:08 mark in the half. The Blue Bears managed to stay within striking distance by a few points but at :42 they tied the score at 68 all.

At :19, the Blue Bears on  oul shots went up 70-68. The Hawks’ Arroyo was on the foul line with :06 on the clock. Both foul shots were missed and the Blue Bears’ Roger Ray was fouled. He scored on both of his shots to put the Blue Bears up 72-68.

With :02 remaining, the Hawks’ Kevin Kuteyl was fouled and sent to the free throw line with two shots. His first shot was good, and an intentional miss and a foul by the Hawks placed the Blue Bears’ Jimmy Wilson on the line with :01 remaining in the game. Wilson scored both shots to end the game with 74-69 and advancement to the semi-finals of the tournament.

In scoring for the Hawks, they were lead by Carlos Arroyo with 14 points, followed by Jeremy Smith with 13 points. Both Kevin Kuteyl and Tim Hewett both scored 12 points apiece.

The leading scorers for the Bears were Cameron Burhannon with 16 points, David Duncan with 13 and Roger Ray with 10 points.