In the final game of the last-ever Carrollton Holiday Tournament on Tuesday night, the Carrollton Hawks claimed the championship by defeating the Calhoun Warriors 60-43. The Hawks go into the new year with a 9-1 record, riding a nine game winning streak since losing to Piasa Southwestern in their first game of the season. The Warriors drop to 8-2.
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“The fact that we won the last one is a great way to go out,” Hawks head coach Jeff Krumwiede said. “I want to tip my cap to all of the teams that continued to come here and show loyalty.”
Jacob Smith was the leading scorer for the Hawks with a season high 21 points. He was followed up by Luke Palan who had 19. Calhoun’s leading scorer was Blake Booth with 10.
“Jacob has a had a very solid tournament,” Krumwiede said. “That’s what makes our team tough to deal with because it can be a different guy every night.”
Both teams started out well offensively. Palan scored Carrollton’s first seven points and Calhoun did a good job of penetrating to the basket and getting layups. It was 16-13 Carrollton after one quarter of play, and they continued to play better as the game wore on. With a six point advantage at halftime, the Hawks exploded to an 18-point lead late in the third quarter. Calhoun did trim the deficit to 10 points in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks played composed basketball and wound up outscoring the Warriors in the final frame to cruise to victory.
“We did a better job than we did last night at taking care of the ball,” Krumwiede said. “When you have a point guard like Luke Palan it’s pretty easy to take of the ball sometimes.”
Palan, Smith, and Luke Gillingham were named to the all-tournament team for the Hawks. Gus Baalman and Mitchell Bick made the team for Calhoun. Gillingham was the leading scorer in the tournament with 70 points.
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