Southwest Men's Military Basketball Championships: Tinker Hawks fall to Sheppard 81-73

Published April 3, 2008
By John E. Banks
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- The Tinker Hawks men's varsity basketball had to rebound from an early first round defeat in the 2008 Southwest Men's Military Basketball tournament. Next on the docket was a game versus the home-standing Sheppard AFB Senators at the Levitow Fitness and Sports Center on March 29. The Hawks fell behind early and despite a valiant and gritty comeback, they fell short 81-73.
   A balanced scoring attack led the Senators to a 25-point first half advantage over the Hawks. The Senators players, Stephen Barry, Shawn Peterman, Johnnie Cohnes, and Rodney Martin combined for 36 of their teams 48 points.
   "The Senators are a well-balanced team and we allowed them to get out and run and they had a lot of easy opportunities to score," said Clarence Griffin, head coach of the Hawks.
   Our roster is very deep and we can interchange players at will and I think this gives us an advantage over most of our opponents," said Tyrone Jordan, head coach of the Senators.
   Undaunted by this large deficit the Hawks concentrated all their efforts to make a comeback. Forwards Phil Hawthorne and Tony Cohen led the charge. Both these players scored 14 and nine points respectively during a 35-18 surge that brought the Hawks within 12 points 70-58 with three minutes to play.
   The Hawks kept up the pressure but ran out of time. They were able to cut the lead to eight points on two occasions. That was the closest they would get in the game.
   The loss by the Hawks gave them a quick exit in the tournament. Hawthorne who poured in a team-high 21 points led the Hawks on the score sheet. This performance landed Hawthorne on the all tournament team.
   "If would could have had the intensity in first half that we showed in the second half, I believe the outcome would have been a lot different," said Griffin.

On guard