DURHAM, N.H. – After an ugly first half for both teams, Hartford woke up in the second half. In particular, Mark Nwakamma woke up, and he carried the Hawks to a 51-40 win at New Hampshire that stopped a three-game losing streak and also showed why he is this team’s most important player.
Hartford has been a streaky team since the calendar turned over, which isn’t entirely surprising given that this is still a young team. They started by winning their first three America East games before dropping three straight. A year after opening up 0-13, the Hawks have managed to make that three-game losing streak their longest of the season, evidence of the strides this team is making. A lot of that starts with the clear star of Thursday night’s game.
“I think we have a guy in Mark Nwakamma who can really take over certain games,” said head coach John Gallagher. “We were fortunate enough to have him on our team tonight, and that’s the bottom line. We’re at a point in our program now where we’ve established a leader and a go-to guy.”
Added New Hampshire head coach Bill Herrion: “He’s a first team all-conference guy. He’s a premier player on their team.”
You could see the potential Nwakamma has in the second half as he came alive following New Hampshire’s strong start. He scored in several ways, blowing by a defender for a layup one time, a post basket another time, a pump fake and drive on another possession and a simple face-up jumper off the glass. Later, a long jumper added to it.
And as if that’s not enough, Nwakamma is a very capable passer and showed it almost accidentally, as he did the no-no of leaving his feet without going to shoot but found Jamie Schneck cutting to the basket for a layup. He’s second on the team in assists on the season.
In all, Nwakamma scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half on 8-13 shooting. In conference play he leads America East in scoring at 18.1 points per game.
“I took what the defense gave me, being patient and finding my opportunities to score,” said the sophomore forward.
The Hawks needed Nwakamma to carry them as they didn’t exactly put on an offensive clinic. A lot of that owes to New Hampshire’s defense, but 51 points is 51 points in a game not played at a snail’s pace. Evan Cooper, playing on a bad hand, was the only other Hawk in double figures with 10 points and played admirably.
Gallagher heaped a lot of praise on Nwakamma for his leadership, character and work ethic. He’s bought in to what the staff is trying to do, and the Hawks have cast their lot with him and three classmates as co-captains. You can sense he understands what’s at stake, as he noted the team thought Thursday’s game “was a must-win game coming off losing three straight.” There’s a lot of room for growth, and that will be more apparent as defenses focus on him more, including doubling him.
The one place where there is an acute need for the sophomore to keep improving is at the other end of the floor. Nwakamma fouled out of eight games last season and has already fouled out of five this season. Foul trouble has still been there this season, but as he noted with a smile, he did well with that on Thursday night as he had just two and the Hawks never had to sit him for that. He knows he needs to stay on the court, and Thursday night drove that home a little more.
“As a team and personally, that’s one of the biggest things I’ve tried to work on,” Nwakamma said. “I’ll talk to myself during the game, constantly having to think about that.”
Hartford can now establish some more momentum again as they play three of their next four at home, although it won’t be an easy task since Vermont and Stony Brook bookend that stretch. Gallagher emphasized every game on the slate and what he feels is a wide-open conference at this point. Still, the Hawks are 6-3 at home, another sign of growth as they protect their homecourt better.
The Hawks have some time to prepare for Vermont and the remainder of the stretch, as the Catamounts will not be in town until next Wednesday. They go into it having ended their longest losing streak of the season and with their best player having a big game. They also go into it back in growth mode again with a win in their pocked and a 4-3 conference record.
