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Preview: No. 2 Hawks looking to end regular season on high note
By Jim O'Hara
ROME – The night was undoubtedly the biggest in the history of the men's basketball program at Shorter University.
A first-ever regular season championship that resulted in a top seeding for the upcoming conference tournament, the breaking of the 1,000-career point barrier by a player and the 100th victory for the head coach – all of these milestones fell into place last Saturday when Shorter defeated Southern States Athletic Conference foe Brewton-Parker.
The Hawks, however, still have some unfinished goals ahead of them.
"We've had a great season and accomplished some of our goals – but not all of them yet," Shorter head coach Chad Warner, who has 100 coaching victories in less than five seasons, said about what his No. 2-ranked Hawks have left to accomplish as they prepare for their final two games of the regular season – both SSAC clashes – hosting No. 16 Lee on Thursday in their home finale and visiting Truett-McConnell on Saturday to cap the campaign.
The Hawks (26-2, 15-1 SSAC) have remained focused all year, quickly emerging as not only a conference contender but as one of the top teams in the nation having held the top spot in the NAIA Top 25 rankings longer than any other program this season.
Their focus has produced some of the results they were hoping for, the biggest thus far coming last Saturday when the Hawks clinched the SSAC East Division crown, something that had never been done by previous teams on The Hill. The title sewed up the division's top seed for next week's conference tournament that will be held in Rome starting on Feb. 29.
That victory over Brewton-Parker also allowed Shorter to tie the program's record for most wins in a single season – the mark was set back in 1965 – and ushered in the latest member of Shorter's 1,000-point club as junior All-American Walter Hill, who has been with the Hawks for less than two years, broke the barrier with his game-high 22 points.
"Those things are a by-product of what we do," Warner said. "Things have been put into place that have allowed us to be successful."
The biggest thing that Shorter has found in its drive to success is an incredibly deep and balanced roster that allows Warner to maintain the intensity on the court.
As the Hawks head into their conference tests against Lee and Truett-McConnell, four players who are part of an offensive juggernaut that scores 81 points an outing are averaging in double figures.
Hill, who now has 1,017 career points, leads the Hawks connecting for 18 points a game and tops the team having turned in seven double-doubles.
"He's been good for us and he understands his role," Warner said of Hill.
Junior Anthony Banks is contributing 15.7 points and heads up Shorter's inside work under the glass with a team-leading 8.5 rebounds a game. Juniors C.J. Davis and Dante Harvey round out the double-digit foursome with respective 13 and 10 points per game averages.
The Hawks share the basketball with senior point guard Eric Nix leading the conference averaging nearly six assists a game and Shorter boasts one of the best shooting lineups in the country. The Hawks are ranked No. 3 nationally in 3-point accuracy hitting 40 percent of their shots and No. 4 in field goal accuracy connecting on more than 50 percent of their shots from anywhere on the court.
Warner and the Hawks understand that they must remain on the same path they have taken so far, concentrating on the immediate challenges this week, starting with the showdown with Lee that will mark the final home game at Winthrop-King Centre for four seniors – Nix, Johnathan Crawford, Darius Steger and Willie Woodard.
"Lee's a great team and last year we took a tough loss when we went to Truett-McConnell," Warner said. "We're still in the position we need to be in. They know they have to stay focused and that you can never get an opportunity like this back.
"We have to keep doing what we've done all year – play hard and with intensity. We haven't arrived yet, but we're close to it."
