Hawkins Posts First Career Double-Double With Personal-Bests of 21 Points and 11 Rebounds

HAVERFORD, Pa. – Senior forward Tony Hawkins (Mt. Ephraim, N.J./Haddon Township) recorded his first career double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds, both career and game-highs, as visiin a Centennial Conference men's basketball game on Tuesday evening at Gooding Arena.  The Shoremen improve to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in the conference, while the Fords fall to 2-4 and 0-3 respectively. 

It is Washington's first victory at Haverford since an 80-76 win on January 25, 2003 and the team's first victory at Gooding Arena.  WC had lost its first eight in the arena and the last 10 on Haverford's campus.  The 29-point win was the largest margin of victory for the Shoremen since an 81-52 triumph in the 1996-97 season.  The win was also the Shoremen's 50th all-time victory over the Fords and now lead the all-time series which dates back to the 1924-25 season, 50-34. 

Washington jumped out to an 8-3 lead with 15:08 left in the opening half on a pair of free throws by Hawkins.  Washington led 14-13 with 9:42 remaining in the first half following a three by Haverford's Matt Sherman before the Shoremen went on a 22-9 run to take their biggest lead of the half at 36-22 with 3:18 remaining in the opening stanza on a triple by junior guard Sean Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn).  The Shoremen got their first double-digit lead on two free throws by Brooks to give WC a 31-20 lead with 4:52 remaining.  However, Haverford scored the last five points of the half to cut the lead to 36-27 at halftime, the final three coming on a Louis Cipriano three-pointer with 48 ticks left in the half.

The Shoremen came out strong in the second half scoring the first eight points to take their biggest lead of the game at 44-27 with 17:49 left in the contest on a lay-in by senior guard Kevin Cunningham (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape).  The Fords would respond by scoring 12 of the next 18 points to cut the lead to 50-39 with 12:17 remaining on a Gibby Graves transition lay-in.  However, Haverford would get no closer as the Shoremen outscored the Fords 26-7 in the final 11:30 of the ballgame.  Washington would extend its lead to 20 for the first time on a steal and fast-break layup by Cunningham with 5:20 left.   The Shoremen would lead by as many as 30 points with 1:48 left on a layup by junior center Connor Silhanek (Lansdale, Pa. / North Penn) to make it 76-46. 

In addition to Hawkins, Washington got 12 points from Cunningham and 11 points from sophomore forward Pat Morgan (Havertown, Pa./Haverford).  Morgan also handed out a career-best four assists to lead all players, while Brooks matched his personal-best with three steals.  The Shoremen shot a season-high 52% from the floor (28-for-54), 33% from three-point land (4-for-12) and 76% from the charity stripe (16-for-21).  The Shoremen held a 38-33 edge on the glass and outscored the Fords by a 44-22 margin in points in the paint.  WC also held a 24-13 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Graves had 12 points to lead the Fords and was the only Haverford player to score in double figures.  Brett Cohen, who was averaging 15.8 points per game entering the game, was held scoreless by the Washington defense.  Cohen did tie Lucas Columbo for team-best in rebounds with eight.  Haverford shot 32% from the field (17-for-53), 31% from three-point range (4-for-13) and 53% from the foul line (9-for-17). 

WC did outscore Haverford 13-9 in second-chance points, while the Fords outscored the Shoremen in bench points, 22-16.

The Shoremen travel to Gettysburg on Saturday afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. Centennial Conference contest.