Hawkins hits game-winner as GWU beats USC Upstate

By Jacob Conley (@gwujake)

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Gardner-Webb’s Colin Hawkins scored on a driving layup with 4.1 seconds left as the Runnin’ Bulldogs picked up their first Division I win of the season with a 67-65 victory over USC Upstate Spartans on Friday at Paul Porter Arena.

“Coach just trusted me with the ball in my hands,” Hawkins said. “At first, I was looking to pass it, and then I just decided to put my head down and go. This win means a lot. We knew it had to come sooner or later. Now that the first one is out of the way, we are going to celebrate tonight and then get to practice and go after the next one.”

“This was a breath of fresh air,” GWU coach Jeremy Luther said. “We finally got one. This team looked lost the last few games and then we got down by 13 tonight and it’s like, ‘oh no, here we go again.’ But we stayed together and shots started falling, and we were able to get the win.”

Hawkins got off to a fast start with the game’s first five points, but Karmani Gregory capped a 10-2 Upstate run with a three as the Spartans led 10-7. Carmelo Adkins hit a pair of treys later in the half as the lead grew to 21-10 with 11:02 remaining.

Hawkins stopped the bleeding with a layup and DJ Jefferson canned a triple to cut the deficit to 23-17, forcing an Upstate stoppage. Mason Bendinger responded with a three-point play out of the timeout and Gregory canned one from beyond the arc. With the visitors once again up by double digits, Jacob Hogarth went to work in the paint. He scored on three straight trips that saw the Runnin’ Bulldogs only trailing 32-29 at the half.

Hogarth stayed hot coming out of the locker room with another bucket. The teams kept trading buckets until the Spartans hit four straight from the foul line.  Hogarth was forced to the bench with his third foul, but Jamias Ferere hit a three and Hogarth came back in the game to hit a short jumper to give GWU the lead at 44-43.

Bendinger answered on the other end and the lead began to change hands on each trip down the floor. Upstate entered the double bonus at the 9:07 mark, but a big three by Riek Riek gave GWU a 55-54 lead with 6:36 left in the game  The game continued to go back and forth, as it was tied at 58 with 3:29 left.

Jacob Hudson then grabbed a rebound for Gardner-Webb, and raced the length of the floor for a layup and a 62-60 lead with 2:07 remaining. Ferere hit a three from the corner, but Gregory did the same for the Spartans. Breylin Garcia tied the game with a putback, only for Hawkins to garner what turned out to be the game-winning shot, ans Ace Talbert stole the ensuing inbounds pass to seal the win.

 

HOGARTH GETS HOT: Even though Jacob Hogarth finished with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds, he did not score until after the final media timeout of the first half. The Iona transfer had six straight points to help GWU cut a 13-point deficit to three at halftime.

“Coach Luther pulled me out of the game because I wasn’t playing that well,” Hogarth said. “I put my head down because I was disappointed. Coach said he believed in me  and he knew I could do better. My teammates were behind me, supporting me, too.”

Luther provided more perspective.

“Jacob is not a lazy player, but sometimes he will coast,” the coach revealed. “I yanked him out and got under his skin a little bit, and it made him mad. A mad Jacob Hogarth is good news for us, and very bad news for whoever we are playing.”

DEFENSE!!, DEFENSE!!! GWU entered the game ranked 364th out of 365 Division I teams in defensive efficiency, just in front of North Florida, giving up almost 88 points per contest. Against the Spartans, they only allowed 65 points.

“We finally nutted up and decided to play defense,” Luther said. “The last few games, we let our inability to score affect our defense, but not tonight. We had some times where we could not throw it in the ocean, but we stayed locked in on defense and that was the difference in the game.”

TEAM LEADERS: Gregory and Adkins led the Spartans with 22 points and 15 points, respectively. In addition to Hogarth’s double-double, Hawkins had 11 and Ferere scored 10 for GWU.

UP NEXT: USC Upstate will host Longwood on Thursday at 7 p.m., while GWU will travel to UNC Asheville the same night for a 6:30 p.m. tip.