The crowd cheering, shoes squeaking, and the ball dropping into the basketball hoop are only a few of the sounds you hear as you walk into a Bethel Park freshmen boys’ basketball game.

On Tuesday, Dec. 15, the freshmen Hawks (0-3) took on the Peters Township Indians (2-1).

Despite a lead at halftime, the Hawks couldn’t hang with the Indians, as they suffered a 42-45 loss.

To start the game, Coach Ship sent in his starting five, consisting of: #33 Brandon Grecko, #42 Dalton Moore, #1 Anthony Strangis, #55 Beck Kozak, and #23 Ian Noll.

The 2nd quarter brought new faces to the court, but the coach soon replaced them. At this point in the game, the tension was rising. The Indians slowly began to catch up to the Hawks as their defense picked up, along with their under-the-basket shooting. Sadly, as the Indians’ defense and offense rose, the Hawks’ declined. Their rebounding and boxing out became sloppy and then nonexistent.

The energy seemed to spike, however, as Anthony Strangis and Brandon Grecko raced down the court to make a last second shot. Strangis was able to hit a buzzer beater, assisted by Grecko.

As the 1st half drew to a close, the Hawks still held their lead at 29-22.

The 3rd quarter was only slightly better than the second. With 4:05 left in this quarter, the Hawks had already let their spacious lead dwindle as the score tightened to 31- 27 Hawks.

In this quarter, the team’s energy was dwindling again, slowly moving to no energy at all. Many of the players were jogging down the court or simply not getting back on defense in time.

However, there were some who were still going strong such as Strangis, Grecko, and Kozak.

By the end of the 3rd quarter, despite their valiant efforts, the score was tied 36-36.

The 4th quarter was definitely a nail biter; the tension was high in the gymnasium as many questioned who would reign victorious at the end of the game. Throughout the last quarter, the exhaustion of the team was evident.

As the quarter was coming to a close, with thirteen seconds on the clock, the Hawks had let their lead slip away trailing the Indians at 39-42.

But when all hope seemed lost, a gleam streamed through when Anthony Strangis hit a three pointer as twelve seconds ticked on the clock. The crowd exploded with excitement, yet their enthusiasm diminished within seconds.

The Hawks just couldn’t get back on defense in time to stop an Indians’ shooting guard from also hitting a three-point shot with ten seconds left. Even with a pep talk from their coach in the timeout huddle, the Hawks could not secure the win.

The game had an ending score of 42-45 Indians.

When asked about the game’s outcome, shooting guard Beck Kozak said, “We’ve started off a little rough, but we’re getting better everyday, we’re working better together as a team, and I think that’s what’s going to win us games.”

When also asked about the outcome, forward Tiger Burke said, “We’re getting better, but we need to work on our boxing out and take more shots.”

Their record now stands at 0-4.

Is the team’s losing streak just a matter of adjustment, or is this the freshmen team we can expect to see all year? We’ll just have to wait to find out.

Their next game will be on Friday, Dec. 18 at home against TJ at 3:45.