New Philadelphia, OH, -- The Hocking College Hawks men’s basketball team (6-1) traveled to face the Kent State University Tuscarawas Golden Eagles (2-3) and in a tightly-contested game, came away with a 79-73 victory on Tuesday, November 19th.
The Hawks, who entered the game leading the NJCAA Division lll in points per game (105.7) and shots made (42.7), took an early 7-1 lead before the Golden Eagles tied the game at 11. The opening half ended with Hocking adding a pair of free throws and an offensive stick-back after a missed free throw, which gave them a 41-37 halftime lead.
The Golden Eagles managed to keep the game close for the majority of the game before Hocking increased the margin to 72-65 with 2:30 remaining. But the Eagles quickly whittled the deficit to four at 73-69. As time waned, the Eagles were forced to foul and the Hawks converted their free throws to clinch the road win.
The Hawks were led by sophomore forward Elias Revelle, who scored a team-high 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting including hitting 2-of-4 three-pointers. He added a game-high nine rebounds and had a steal. Freshman guard Ryan Archey, Jr., added 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting with a three-pointer, 6-of-6 from the free throw line, and added seven rebounds,three assists and two steals.
As a team, Hocking was 27-of-71 shooting, scored on only 6-of-29 from three, and went 19-of-31 from the free throw line. The Hawks out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 49 to 38 and forced more turnover, 25 to 20.
Freshman Andre Leavell led four Golden Eagles with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting and added 5-of-7 from the free throw line. He recorded seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. Sophomore Mailk Campbell scored 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting, going 5-of-7 from the free throw line. He added five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Hocking is now listed in the Top Ten of five statisticl categories in the NJCAA Division III. The Hawks are averaging 102 ppg, which ranks them third in the nation among the 105 teams in NJCAA D-III. The Hawks are ranked fourth in made field goals with 283 of 557(50.8%) attempted shots. Hocking is ranked second in offensive rebounds averaging 20.4 per game and in seventh place in total rebounds averaging 51.6 rebounds per game. The Hawks are averaging 14 steals per game, which ranks them 8th in NJCAA Division lll.
Hocking will return home to open conference play vs Lakeland CC on Saturday, Nov. 23. Tipoff is set for 3pm inside the Hocking College Student Center. The women’s game will start at 1 p.m.
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Trevor Stephens
Hocking College Athletics