Cleveland Basketball Classic: Hawken defeats Padua 58-49

Day 2 of the first annual Cleveland Basketball Classic started off with a matchup between the Hawken Hawks and the Padua Bruins. It was the start to a great day of basketball at Rudolph Ursprung Gymnasium.

Padua jumped out to an early 12-6 lead, behind hot starts from 6’7″ senior big man Jesse Hayes and sophomore guard Riley Cervenka. However, the Hawks then closed the first quarter on a 11-1 run and led the Bruins 17-13 after the first.

The Bruins had no answer for Hawken junior big man David Dettelbach, as he began dominating down low. Hawken continued their run into the 2nd quarter, and at one point were up 13, before back to back and-ones from Jesse Hayes and JT Giannakopolous cut the lead to 7 just before halftime.

At the half, the Hawks led the Bruins 32-25. To start the 3rd quarter freshman Darren Hill hit a three to put the Hawks up 10, taking the momentum right back. Hawken began the 3rd on a 9-2 run, putting them up 14 and they never looked back from there.

After his huge first half, the Hawks did a great job defending Jesse Hayes and limiting him in the 2nd half. David Dettelbach’s presence down low was a big part of that. After the 3rd quarter, Hawken had command of the game with a 47-34 lead.

In the 4th quarter the Hawks maintained a 10-plus point lead for the majority of the quarter, until the Bruins began to make a little bit of a run, cutting the lead to 7 at one point on a George Gonet three. However, a David Dellenbach steal and layup put any hopes of a Bruins comeback to rest.

Hawken ended up winning by a final score of 58-49. Dettelbach, Hill, and junior guard Taj Caver all had big performances for Hawken in their season opening victory. JT Giannakopolous was a bright spot in the 2nd half for Padua as he finished with 14 points. Jesse Hayes finished with 16 and threw down a couple of dunks as well.

After the game, Hawken freshman Darren Hill said that after their slow start in the first few minutes they started playing with more patience on offense and moving the ball around more.

He also mentioned that they switched to a 1-2-2 defense to try and slow down Padua big man Jesse Hayes after his huge first half. “Shoutout to the coaching”, Hill said, as the switch clearly made an impact. It was a great start to the Sunday slate of games at the Cleveland Basketball Classic.