Galloway and Aiken Lead Hawks to Road Win

After dropping the first two contests of the season, the Hawks have rebounded and now won back-to-back games. The Hawks defeated Fairfield 60-51 in Connecticut last night. With the win, the Hawks stand at 2-2 going into Friday's game against Rutgers at the Palestra. Current Rutgers head coach Mike Rice spent time on Hawk Hill as an assistant coach. Rice has made national waves with his 2011 recruiting class.

The Hawks trailed early last night, before ending the first half on a run and closing the Fairfield lead to 25-19. Down the stretch, the Hawks were able to clamp down defensively and convert from the free throw line. Freshman Langston Galloway once again put together a game well beyond his years, scoring 15 points on 7-9 shooting from the field. He also pulled down 5 rebounds, had 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Langston got help on Tuesday night from a freshman, a sophomore, and a senior. Senior forward Idris Hilliard had 12 points and 6 rebounds, Tay Jones had 13 points and 4 steals, and freshman CJ Aiken had 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 blocks.

After Saturday's win against Norfolk State, I wrote about the significant minutes being played by the team's freshmen. Last night, the five freshmen combined for 109 of the possible 200 minutes. They pulled down 23 of the team's 32 rebounds. They scored 31 of the team's 61 points, and did so on a night where Daryus Quarles was kept scoreless.

Sophomore guard Justin Crosgile only played 8 minutes last night, with his minutes going to Pat Swilling Jr. and senior Charoy Bentley. That will be an interesting statistic to track this season.

ESPN Box Score