Hrynyk nets 31 in Hawks' comeback victory

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Bartlett used an improbable fourth-quarter comeback Saturday night to stun East Aurora 67-64 on the Tomcats' floor in an Upstate Eight Conference matchup.

The Hawks, who trailed by as many as 17 in the second half, used a heroic effort by senior Cory Hrynyk and a sparkling fourth-quarter free-throw display to rally to victory.

Playing without starting center Kamil Janton for the night because of a one-game suspension, Bartlett seemed out of sync for the first three quarters. That changed in the fourth period.

Despite trailing 55-39 with less than six minutes remaining, Bartlett found its groove with an intensified pressure defense.

"I've always believed you press a pressing team," Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith said, "and for whatever reason I didn't do it until the fourth quarter when we were down."

While the Hawks' defense was shutting down the Tomcats' offense, Hrynyk put his team on his shoulders.

Numerous times throughout the game, the 6-foot-7 forward would grab the rebound on the defensive end and take it coast-to-coast for a basket.

Hrynyk finished with a game-high 31 points, 22 of which came in the second half.

"It was all the team," Hrynyk said. "We were all a team out there on the bench and on the floor."

Added Wolfsmith, "Cory is a man and that was a man's game he played out there. That was a statement game he made to the rest of the conference."

The Hawks tied the score at 59 on Hrynyk's three-point play with 1:49 left and took a 61-59 lead on a pair of Frankie Cleope free throws.

East Aurora answered with four unanswered points to take a 63-61 lead, but Bartlett tied the score on a Kevin Gates basket and took the lead for good with Mike Banks' two free throws with eight seconds left.

"We talked about having mountains to climb," Wolfsmith said. "We were already down our big man, but the kids played great defense down the stretch and took a huge step up that mountain."

Icing Bartlett's comeback was the Hawks' deft touch from the free-throw line. Going into the fourth quarter, Bartlett was only 3 of 7 from the free-throw line, but in the final period the Hawks shot 17 of 18 from the charity stripe.

Meanwhile, East Aurora (9-6, 1-3) was crumbling, losing turnovers, missing the front end of one-and-ones and committing fouls.

Little added 11 points for Bartlett.