Hawks break through for 1st victory

Greenfield - The season-long frustration finally ended last week for Greenfield's boys basketball team.

The Hustlin' Hawks shot a season-high 55 percent from the floor to beat West Bend East, 63-55, on Jan. 24 and post their first victory of the season and their initial triumph under head coach Jack Miller.

"We actually started coming along about two weeks ago," said Miller.

Signs of improvement

The first major sign of improvement came in a Jan. 20 contest against St. Thomas More, the leader in the Woodland Conference Blue Division. The Hawks were up by one point in the final minute but could not close out the game, falling 57-54.

Despite the loss, the effort provided a big boost for the Hawks, who had been truly competitive in only a handful of games this season. They did fall by only one point to South Milwaukee, which is in third place in the Woodland Black Division.

"If there is such a thing as a moral victory, that (against Thomas More) was it," Miller continued. "We played well, and that gave us more confidence."

The confidence carried over to the West Bend East game, in which the Hawks hit double figures in every quarter. They were up 33-24 at the half and 45-30 after three periods.

Ricky Santiago and Kyle Schahczinski each tallied 17 points, while Nick Jablonski added nine points and Sonnie Wilbert eight points. The Hawks, whose previous high for a game was 54 on three occasions, also netted eight of nine at the free-throw line.

Starting strong

The Hawks also played well at the start of Friday's game against Pewaukee. The score was tied at 14-14 after one quarter and the Pirates led only 24-19 at the half.

"In the second half, we had something that has happened to us a lot this year, a long scoring drought," Miller said.

Greenfield managed just 13 second-half points, including four in the fourth period, as Pewaukee pulled away to a 64-32 victory.

Jablonski tallied 12 points to lead the Hawks, who had no one else score more than four points.

Greenfield, which came into this week at 0-11 in the Woodland Conference and 1-14 overall, gets a bit of a scheduling break at this point.

The Hawks, who took on Cudahy on Tuesday night, host St. Francis (0-12, 0-15) at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 and visit Wauwatosa West (2-9, 2-13) at 7:30 Feb. 7. Those three teams have combined for three Woodland victories and five triumphs overall entering this week.

"We are looking forward to those games to see if we have made progress," Miller said.