Hawthorne Runs Away From Leuzinger in Fourth Quarter

Hawthorne High outscored archrival Leuzinger, 12-0, in the fourth quarter and upset the Olympians, 71-63, in a Bay League basketball game at Leuzinger on Wednesday night.

The teams exchanged leads eight times, but the shorter, quicker Cougars shut down the Olympians in the last quarter before a near-capacity crowd.

Leuzinger is 9-3 overall and 1-1 in the Bay League.

“We are a very well-conditioned team,” Hawthorne Coach Richard Wells said. “That’s what allowed us to pull away in the last quarter.”

Hawthorne (7-9, 1-1) trailed by as much as seven points in the first half, but senior forward Jabbar Moulton led a charge that kept the Cougars in the game. Moulton scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the third quarter, mostly on layups.

“That’s my role, to come off the bench and score, and then play defense,” Moulton said. “Then we just played hard in the fourth quarter.”

Moulton said a seven-minute delay in the third quarter, caused by a scoring dispute, helped the Cougars rest their legs for the final charge.

The delay was caused by a scoring dispute with Leuzinger leading 54-51. The Olympians were apparently given two extra points according to individual totals kept by each school’s scorekeeper, but Leuzinger’s scorebook had the running score 54-51 and the referees allowed that score to stand.