Howard Hawks Reach Title Game, Take Down Defending Champs
Trinity Valley, #4 seed and #1 seed Howard College faced off in Semifinal number one.
Trinity the defending champs, and Howard the 2010 Champs were almost even in the first half as the Hawks took the slimmest of leads into the intermission, 32-31.
Each team’s largest lead was 8. NWF late in the first period…Howard’s early in the second.
The Cardinals (biggest run was 8, the Hawks did 9, which came as the halves were transitioning from 1 to 2.
Mostly a 2 or 3 possession game after the break, Northwest trimmed it to 1, 67-66 on an MJ Wardlow triple at the :54 mark.
NWF never scored again, and after 3 FTs and a breakaway lay in, the Hawks took it 72-66. Howard reaches the Finals with their (32-4) record for the second time in school history, the other time was in 2010 when they won it all.
Top performers for the winners were Brandon Ivery who nailed down 18. Terry Copeland and Elijah Tshibangu each contributed 15. Copeland added 9 boards.
TVCC (30-6) was guided by Braylon Wenger’s 24. Shooting 7-14 on FGs (4-10 from long distance), and 6-6 from the stripe. Wardlow added 12.
Howard won the rebounding battle 34-28 and went 21-29 from the line while the Cards were 9-12.
