Blackhawks boys lose a heartbreaker

CHENEY – When the Cheney boys took on the North Central Worlfpack on Friday night there were several things stacked against them. First of all, NC is an experienced, extremely tall team, having six players 6:5" or better. Secondly, the Blackhawks were short; minus 3 players and their head coach with Covid protocol difficulties, and they suited up only 8 players, including 3 frosh borrowed from the J.V.'s. But assistant coach James Whitely put together a great game plan and the depleted Blackhawks almost pulled off an unexpected victory, working hard to the wire, but losing 58 – 57.

The first-half was a slow, cold-shooting affair with NC leading after 16 minutes 27 – 20. Cheney only managed 6 2nd quarter points and a 6 point quarter ending run gave the "Pack" the 7 point lead.

In every one of the Blackhawk previous 10 games they have been handily outscored in the 3rd quarter, but tonight they finally found their post-halftime stroke. Josh Whitely with 2 and Evan Stinson one made three-pointers on 3 consecutive possessions early in the quarter. Then Whitely added another and Garrett Huett drilled 2 more before the quarter was over and Cheney tied things up at 44 – all at the end of 3 periods.

There was little separation in the final quarter. With 3:05 remaining, a Stinson rebound bucket closed NC's lead to 3-points. Then, with 1:34 left Whitely made his 4th 3-pointer to tie the game at 56. A Jacobi Ervin bucket with 1:09 left put NC up by one. The Blackhawks had 4 free-throw attempts to tie, but could only convert one, and the Wolfpack survived by a point. Stinson, Whitely and Huett scored all but 4 of Cheney's points, with Evan scoring 25, Josh 18 and Garrett 10. Stinson added 13 rebounds. The Ervin Brothers, Gelonni and Jacobi led NC with 14 apiece. Cheney is now 2–9 on the season.

The scheduled Cheney – Rogers game on Saturday night was postponed because of Covid scheduling issues and will be played on Feb. 2 at EWU. The Blackhawks now have 3 contests to make-up.