Wrangled the Bengals

Lakeland Hawks Jalen Skalskiy and Carson Seay score double digit points in a comeback win against the Lewiston Bengals. 

The Lakeland Hawks (4-3) edged out the Lewiston Bengals (5-2) 61-46 on Tuesday night at Lakeland High School gym. 

The last time these two teams met, Lewiston scored 40+ points in the 2nd half to secure the teams win 69-59. With the results of the last matchup, the Hawks were looking for redemption. 

The game didn’t start like the Hawks would have liked it to with Lewiston scoring 21 points in the first quarter, while Lakeland scored just 11 points. 

Although the second quarter looked similar to the first quarter, with Lewiston being up 33-21 at the half, fouls were a problem for the Bengals — committing little over double the amount of fouls the Hawks committed, allowing the Hawks to catch up with free throws. 

The Hawks had to change some things in the second half if they were goning come out of the game with a win. 

The Hawks came out explosive with 16 points in the 3rd quarter, cutting the lead to 42-37. In the first minutes of the half, the Bengals committed multiple fouls, which allowed the Hawks to shoot free throws to eat away at their lead. 

In the fourth quarter, the Hawks closed the lead and with Jalen Skalskiy scoring two clutch threes to take a lead. The Hawks dominated scoring 24 points while the Bengals only scored 4 points.  

Two dunks by Noah Haaland and Jalen Skalskiy at the end of the game showed whose house the Bengals were in. 

The incredible comeback by the Hawks had the score at 61-46, winning over the Bengals. Three players on the hawks scored 14-plus points, with Skalskiy scoring 19 points and 8 rebounds, Carson Seay scoring 16 points and Noah Haaland scoring 14 points. 

The Lakeland Hawks next game is a home game on Jan. 8 against the Timberlake Tigers.