Second Half Surge Powers Hawks Past MiraCosta

The No. 6 Santiago Canyon College men's basketball team entered this afternoon's non-conference showdown against the winless MiraCosta College Spartans riding a three-game winning streak. Both teams duked it out in the early stages, but it was the Hawks who had the final say leading to a 97-81 victory.

The first half ended in a 39-all gridlock compliments of a buzzer-beating three pointer from sophomore guard Kai Smith who ended the first half with 12 points. 

MiraCosta continued to hold the advantage in the early stages of the second half by maintaining a two point led until freshman forward Chico Lopez drilled a treball at the 14 minute mark to cut the deficit to one point. Sophomore guard Joey Longo followed two possessions later by hitting a three pointer to put the Hawks up by one at 54-53 with just over 13 minutes remaining.

The back-and-forth affair continued to unfold in the final 10 minutes until the Hawks went on a 13-4 run. The spree started with a pair of free throws from freshman guard Eli Arthurton just under the eight-minute mark. E. Arthurton followed with a three ball on the ensuing possession, backed by a jumper from Longo and a triple from Smith.

The Hawks late advantage was too much for the Spartans to handle as the SCC cruised through the remainder of the contest leading to the win.

Smith was the nucleus of the offense for the second-consecutive game as he flushed a game-high 33 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. It is the second-consecutive contest that he earned the game-high scoring mark and the third-consecutive contest in which he landed in double-digit points. Furthermore, he made it to the charity stripe 11 times and hit 10 of his opportunities.

Longo bagged his second-consecutive double-digit showing by scoring 16 points. He teased a triple double by racking up seven boards and dishing out seven assists.

Lopez led the bench with a career-high 15 points accompanied by three rebounds. E. Arthurton finished with 12 points in 23 minutes of action.

There were eight ties and two lead changes in the entire contest with both teams shooting over 35 percent from long range. Santiago Canyon transformed 12 MiraCosta turnovers into 20 points, while also leaning on an impressive 88.9 shooting clip from the free throw line.