Hawks fall behind early in loss to BND

BURLINGTON — Jonny Swanson liked how his Central Lee boys basketball team played in the second half against Notre Dame.
The first half? Not so much.
The Hawks fell behind by double digits in the first half and never recovered in a 64-48 loss to the No. 3 (Class 1A) Nikes on Tuesday night.
Central Lee (8-3 overall, 6-3 SEISC South Division) had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Hawks stayed in third place in the division, just a game behind Mediapolis.
Central Lee was only outscored 27-24 in the second half by the Nikes (13-0, 9-0), a positive Swanson pointed to after the game.
“Second half was obviously way better,” Swanson said. “We shot ourselves into the game a little bit, kind of hung around. We were only outscored by three in the second half, so we showed some fight.”
The Hawks never got going. Notre Dame closed the first quarter with a 12-3 run to lead 18-8, then went on a 16-7 run in the first 4 ½ minutes of the second quarter.

“What happened in the first half is we kind of knew what they were going to do, the way that they were going to play,” Swanson said. “That team is athletic, fast, physical, and they kind of just made us uncomfortable and took us out of our stuff that we like to do. And we know that's how they play. We thought that we were prepared for that. But we dug ourselves a hole. And we were never able to kind of crawl back out of it.”
Central Lee closed the first half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Will Hayes, then opened the second half with two free throws from Brett Cook 31 seconds in to get within 37-26.
“It’s 11 points, early in the third quarter,” Swanson said. “I was hoping we could get within single digits.”
Instead, Notre Dame’s Griffin Kies hit a 3-pointer 19 seconds later. Central Lee would get within 46-34 with 2:30 to play in the quarter after a 3-pointer from Owen Swan, but the Nikes would finish the quarter on a 10-2 run, then opened the fourth quarter with five consecutive points.
Shay Stephens led Notre Dame with 20 points. Kies had 15.
Hayes led Central Lee with 16 points. Carson Morrison added 11.
Central Lee plays host to Danville on Friday.
“We just need consistency,” Swanson said. “It's consistency in our effort, consistency in our shot making, taking care of the ball, all those sorts of things. We’ve got a really good chance to win a bunch of games, get to second place in the conference, maybe get the No. 2 spot in our district. There’s a lot left for us.”