Oakland, CA - The Hawks took on Simpson University in their fourth Cal Pac Conference game on Saturday afternoon. HNU would jump out on the Red Hawks early and SU did not recover the rest of the game, giving the Hawks its fourth conference win 79-69.

Holy Names has had different players step up every game this year and to start the game today was Zac Sewitsky. Simpson would start the game in a soft 2-3 zone. The Red Hawks would shadow Karlos Grier who leads the Hawks with 155 attempts on the year. This left Zac Sewitsky open on the left lane, and after sticking two back to back threes he earned the respect of the Simpson defense. Sewitsky's back to back three would help the Hawks open the game on a 6-0. Karlos Grier would join the 3-pt party after Mike McElroy penetrated the zone and found a wide open Karlos Grier to extend the Hawks run to 9-0.

HNU managed to control the game by pressure Simpson's guards as well as making the Red Hawks play fast and take quick shots. Within the first 10 minutes of the game, HNU would build a 10 point lead (22-12), but the Red Hawks crawled themselves back in. Simpson's Justin Phillips would hit two free throws to tie the game at 29 all with 6 minutes left in the game. Holy Names would respond and finish the half on a 10-4 run going into half with a 39-33 halftime lead.

"We did a great job of jumping on them early, but we need to learn how to sustain that type of pressure the entire half," commented Coach Sanchez on the half.

Hawks would open the half on a back door play and landed Zac Sewitsky at the free throw line for two. After making one of two, HNU would return the favor and put Justin Phillips at the free throw line for two as well. Holy Names managed to build an eight point lead five minutes into the half, but SU mounted a run and with 12 left in the half after a put back by Derochowski cut the Hawks lead to 1 (50-49). Holy Names quickly responded with a 10-0 run behind Colby Herron who scored 6 points in that stretch.

The Hawks would not look back and would spend most of the remaining half at the free throw line shooting 16 of their 32 attempts in the last 12 minutes.

"We made some mental mistakes late in the second half and we need to learn how not to let teams back into the game. We have a big week ahead of us and will need to make some adjustments before our next game. I was pleased with my guys not letting down and sticking with it tonight," added Coach Sanchez

Four Red Hawks finished in double figures with Justin Phillips finishing with a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds. Travis Derochowski also chipped in with a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Bryan Castillo and Nick Dalby rounded out the double figure scoring for the Red Hawks with 13 and 10 points respectively.

HNU finished with balance scoring with Obie Woods off the bench with 13 points. Zac Sewitsky and Fabian Lopez added 11 and 10 points each.

The Hawks held Simpson to 32% from the field and 27% from behind the arch.

Next for the Hawks is a non-conference game tomorrow night against the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz in Tobin Gymnasium at 7:30pm.

Come out and support your Hawks!