No. 21 Hawks Fall to the Hand of Crane's Sharpshooter

GARDEN CITY, TX—The 21-ranked Wall Hawks fell 54-44 against the Crane Golden Cranes in the 3A Region 1 Quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Crane got a major lift by Carlos Montes who drained nine of their 11 three-pointers and tallied 38 points for a career night to knock state power Wall out of the playoffs.

Montes and Kobe Henderson combined for four three-pointers in the first quarter to help give Crane a 14-9 lead after the first quarter.

Behind an Isaiah Guerra three-pointer, four made free-throws by Sterlyn Hartman and a 14-10 scoring margin favoring Wall in the second, the Hawks would narrow their deficit to 24-23 going into halftime.

Out of the break, it looked like Crane had gone cold making just four shots from the field. However, two of those field goals came from beyond the arc.

Trailing 36-30 in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Colton Chitsey looked more like a quarterback by heaving a last-ditch effort over Crane’s basket and in to the stands filled with Crane fans as time expired. However, Crane’s Ryan Hartman made contact with Chitsey to send him to the charity stripe for three shots.

Chitsey would make all three free-throws to make it 36-33 Crane going in to the final period.

Montes would heat back up in the fourth quarter by nailing three more three-pointers, a field goal and five free-throws as Crane outscored Wall 16-11 in the fourth to seal the victory.

Chitsey led the way for Wall with 14 points in the loss.

Behind Montes’ 38 points, the next leading scorer for Crane was Ivan Esparza with six points.

The Hawks finish the season 30-4 as the book closes on the high school careers of Wall seniors Brandon Dusek and Sterlyn Hartman.