The Hawthorne High School Boy’s Basketball team had a home state sectional semifinal game for the first time in decades against the Newton Braves. The first half finished deadlocked at 17-17 with both teams not being able to get an edge over the other. The second half is where the Braves started to pull away. Extending the lead with a 23-9 stretch in the third quarter, the Braves had a double digit advantage going into the start of the fourth. Then out of nowhere the Bears caught fire. Ramon Mariano fired up the Bears by hitting two big three’s to bring the deficit to 46-41.

However, the Bears were stuck with fouling toward the end of the game which further increased the lead to 49-41. Mariano again came down the court and drilled another three point ball from the corner to bring the lead down to five. Alex Ferriola and Jon Di Filippo both hit big three pointers to bring the Bears within one point of Newton.

The Bears again fouled, which increased Newton’s lead to two points with three seconds remaining. The full court pass from T.J. Palmer to Di Filippo was heavily guarded and Di Filippo was barely able to get a shot off to try to tie the game. Thus, ending the Bears magnificent season.

Star Dallas Hoffman ended the game with 13 points, with only 5 points in the second half. Mariano stepped up for the Bears coming off injury and added 12 points. The rest of the team was held out of double digits.

The boy’s season was nothing short of amazing, being that the team won the league title for the first time since 1979 (Mr. Gus Schell was a senior). They also won multiple state playoff games for the first time in many years.

The Bears accomplished many feats this season and did much more than anybody could have expected. It’s just too bad that all good things must come to an end.