The Hendricken Hawks rallied back from 12 points down to beat the Mt. Pleasant Kilties 59-57 Friday night at Mt. Pleasant High.

“I’m proud of everybody on our team,” Hendricken head coach Jamal Gomes said. “It was an awesome team victory because everybody in one way or another contributed.”

For the Hawks, Justin Mazzulla had 21 points, Dimitri Rosa had 14, including four 3-pointers, and Preston Santos contributed 10 points.

Devonte Metts led Mt. Pleasant with 21 points while Leonard Williams and Noah West each had 15.

Mazzulla scored the first points of the game at the free throw line, when he stole the ball and got fouled on a breakaway, giving the Hawks an early 2-0 lead. After Mt. Pleasant’s Troy Johnson missed a jumper, the Hawks got a defensive rebound and guard Kyle Henseler took a dish from Mazzulla and laid it up to put Hendricken on top 4-0.

Mt. Pleasant captain Williams scored the first two points for his squad when he made a layup with 14:21 to go in the first half. Next, senior Noah West laid one up to even the score at 4. West made another layup and put Mt. Pleasant up 6-4. Mazzulla would tie it at 6 with a driving layup.

The Hawks went up 8-6 on a Santos putback jam after a missed layup from his teammate Henseler. The Hawks increased their lead when goaltending was called against Mt. Pleasant. Shortly after though, West would pull Mt. Pleasant within one when he nailed a 3-pointer. After a driving layup from Mazzulla, the Hawks were up 12-9. Though, West would tie it at 12 when he buried a 3-pointer for Mt. Pleasant with 9:12 left to play in the half.

Mt. Pleasant took the lead when Metts stole the ball and passed ahead to Williams, who had an open lane for a layup.

But, Mazzulla buried a 3-pointer to give the Hawks the lead back at 15-14. Then, Rosa nailed a 3 to increase the Hendricken lead to 18-14.

Mt. Pleasant’s Metts made a layup to pull his team within two, 18-16. However, the Hawks’ Santos responded by scoring down the other end.

The Hawks went up 24-20 when Mazzulla put back a missed trey from Henseler. After Mt. Pleasant’s Williams made a pair of free throws, Mt. Pleasant scored again and tied the game at 24. Next, Johnson came up with a steal for Mt. Pleasant and passed to Metts, who was fouled on a breakaway while trying to make a layup. He would make one of two free throws to give Mt. Pleasant a 25-24 lead with 4:25 left in the half.

Both teams struggled to score in the final minutes of the half. The half ended with both teams committing traveling violations and both teams coming up with defensive blocks before Mazzulla scored to give the Hawks a 26-25 halftime lead.

In the second half, the teams started by trading baskets. First, Metts made a layup for Mt. Pleasant before Rosa made one for Hendricken. Moments later, Mt. Pleasant went up 32-30 with 13:57 left. Then, out of a Hawk timeout, Mazzulla fed Trevor Lawton underneath and he was fouled. Lawton made both shots from the charity stripe and tied the game. West responded by burying a 3-pointer for Mt. Pleasant, putting it back up 35-32. Santos retaliated with a jumper for the Hawks.

However, Mt. Pleasant made a run. After building a cushion at the free throw line, Williams and Metts made back-to-back layups to put Mt. Pleasant up 41-34 with 10:44 to play. Less than a minute later, Metts nailed a 3-pointer and increased the lead to 44-35. Soon after, Mt. Pleasant’s Johnson was fouled and he made one of two free throws. Then, West buried a jumper while getting fouled and added the free throw to give Mt. Pleasant its biggest lead of the game at 49-37 with 8:14 left to play.  

However, Hendricken would battle back. First, the Hawks’ Rosa nailed a 3-pointer. After Mt. Pleasant’s Metts was called for charging, Mazzulla made a jumper in front to pull the Hawks within 49-42. Then, back to back times, the Hawks’ Henseler missed a jump shot, but both times Santos was there to clean up the boards and put back layups, pulling Hendricken to 49-45 with 5:37 to play.

Soon after, Santos scored on a breakaway slam dunk to pull Hendricken within one at 49-48.

After West missed a 3-pointer for Mt. Pleasant, he was fortunate to have his teammate Johnson there to clean up the mess and score with an easy layup. But, with 4:04 left to play, Hendricken would tie it at 51 when William Mueller nailed a 3-pointer.

The teams would fight to the finish.

First, forward Darren Robinson made a shot in front and then Metts added two more at the free throw line to put Mt. Pleasant up 55-51 with 2:09 left. But Hawks’ sharpshooter Rosa buried a 3-pointer and pulled the Hawks within one. Mt. Pleasant’s West would make a jumper to go back up three at 57-54 with just 1:30 to play. Again, Rosa found his stroke, burying a 3-pointer, this time to tie the game at 57.

“Well, that’s what Dimitri does,” Gomes said. “He’s a shooter. He’s a 3-point shooter. When he’s in rhythm and he has time and he has space he can knock it down. And he can make many in a row. He can take a game and single-handedly go on an eight or nine point run himself, which we needed today.”

After a traveling violation was called on Mt. Pleasant’s Johnson, the Hawks had a chance to win the game, and win the game they did. Henseler took advantage of a pick set by Lawton and charged toward the basket for the winning layup with 17 seconds to play in the game. 

Mt. Pleasant had one last chance, but Williams’ shot in front missed and the Hawks grabbed a big defensive rebound as the buzzer sounded.

Coach Gomes was thrilled with the win.

“Tremendous game,” Gomes said. “Mt. Pleasant is an awesome team. Their record I think doesn’t truly say how good of a team they are and how dangerous they are. And coming to Mt. Pleasant, this is a tough place to play… Hopefully this will continue to propel us. Just gotta build on it.”