Following a weekend of outstanding basketball, on Monday, 2 May 2016, the Hawks and Nets met at North Highland Assembly of God's Church Gymnasium to present us with another night of exciting basketball.  Before the game started our young scorekeeper, Brandon Thomas, summed up the evening with two clairvoyant statements.  He stated, "We are going to see two tight games tonight" and "The way the teams are put together, this season, we will see playoff games every night".  I agreed with him because the teams are definitely filled with talent.  The Hawks are coming off of a significant victory over the defending champions on 30 April.

     The first possession of the game was won by the Nets, but the Hawks put up the first score.  This was a game of "Will".  Lamont Shuford (#45), Tony Reese (#42), and Rodney Patrick (30) were a triple threat for the Nets as they combined for 26 of the team's 35 first half points.  The Hawks responded with Kevin Douglas (#4), Yohance Thompson (#23), Michael Smith (#0), and Roderick Williams (#25) combining for the team's first half points of 33.  The Hawks committed six team fouls and the Nets committed seven.

     The second half left each team with 20-minutes to secure a victory and they pursued that prize with everything they had.  Shuford and Reese continued their heavy lifting with 25 combined points.  The Hawks', Kevin Douglas and Roderick Williams, gave their players a light at the end of the tunnel with 28 combined points.  As I observed the game, I witnessed one main factor: The Nets were quicker at acknowledging and distributing the ball to the open player.  The Hawks have a big problem in this area.  Their excessive dribbling without peripheral vision cause the team to ignore open players.  At least, I hope that is the case.

     The Nets defeated the Hawks 72 - 67.  The scorers for the Nets were: #45 Lamont "No Answer For Me" Shuford with 26 points, #42 Tony Reese with 18, #30 Rodney Patrick with 11, #25 Trey Tillis with 7, #32 Willie Walker with 3, #21 Keith LaFavor with 3, #00 Willie Filmore with 2, and #19 Santonio Howard with 2 points.

     The scorers for the Hawks were:  #4 Kevin Douglas with 33 points, #25 Roderick Williams with 12, #23 Yohance Thompson with 12, and #0 Michael Smith with 10 points.