Hankins, Hawkins Lead Dubs Past DII Purdue Northwest

By Brandon Petersen

If Micaiah Hankins consistently performs during the Cal Pac campaign like he did in an 89-83 exhibition win over Division II Purdue Northwest Thursday night at Vanguard, he'll wrap up Player of the Year by midseason.

Check out this line: 32 minutes, 9-of-13 from the field including 4-of-4 from range, 4-of-6 at the stripe, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and just three turnovers for a game-high 26 points.

Westcliff's point guard has packed on muscle, looks locked in already, and, alongside his teammates in this very early stage of the season, seems to be firing on all cylinders.

"The chemistry is coming along well," Westcliff head coach Jerred Cook said. "Our culture is really, really strong. Again, it starts with the point guard position, then it trickles down to some really great returners and some key transfers, who made an immediate impact tonight.

"Just coming along. For us now, this is Week 9. Putting things together, we're just now starting to mesh."

Westcliff's starters were outstanding.

Both Rayven Turner (five rebounds) and Aaron Strings (four rebounds) finished with 12 points, while the big man, Evan Hoosier, turned in a tidy eight and six night on the block.

Marques Sales was dogged by the whistle and only had 11 minutes on the floor but managed to collect three boards and chipped in a bucket.

But the story of the night was Westcliff's bench.

Hankins is a proven commodity and a Cal Pac champion, and his expectations are sky high.

Coming into the contest, however, not much was known about Westcliff's bench, which turned over a large number in the offseason and now features a creative mix of high-talent individuals.

Thursday night, Dera Vixon had six points, five assists and four rebounds.

Lorenzo Marsh, an electric scorer, turned in five in just six minutes. 

Julian Dixon chimed in with three and Eric Clark picked up five more rebounds and a dime while contributing a bucket.

Whether the Warriors continue to gel and find that all-too-rare basketball selflessness that only the very best teams possess, remains an unknown for now.

But what's becoming clear is that beyond the starting five is a very deep, very skilled supporting cast.

Chief among the reserves Thursday was Raymond Hawkins, who provided an instant spark, finishing with 13 points on 4-of-6 from the floor, 1-of-1 from three and 4-of-4 from the line. Oh, by the way, he also grabbed five boards (two offensive), had a big-time block down the stretch, found a teammate for a dime, and drove the nail through the Pride's coffin with an empathic baseline two-handed flush in the closing moments.

Not a bad night.

"Raymond Hawkins, man, it's been a long time coming," Cook said. "For us, in terms of where he is, he is just now scratching the surface. The more he gets in shape – you can already see the impact he can have on the floor. He's talking. He's blocking shots. He's in the dunker's spots. He's a guy who you have to know where he's at on the floor – and he's playing high-level basketball.

"What he's bringing to us is something that I expected. Just from his experience at the Division I level. Now, having the opportunity, and being healthy – I'm excited for him."

Hawkins grew up in East Oakland and went to Alabama out of high school.

After transferring back to the West Coast, Hawkins missed the entirety of the 2021 season at Long Beach State with a knee injury.

Prior to that, he was a highly-touted recruit out of Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, which is one of the elite basketball schools in the nation.

In AAU, Hawkins won the Nike Peach Jam with the Oakland Soldiers – if you don't know AAU, that's the biggest prize of them all – the hardest championship to win in the hardest league to compete in – Nike's EYBL.

Now, Hawkins is leading at Westcliff. A boisterous, talkative player – incredibly fun to watch – he's a team guy, too, which makes him even more lovable.

Lovable. It's a good way to describe the vibes around the Warriors three games in.

It's a long season, and darker days are inevitably ahead, but the Warriors have already learned how to overcome adversity as a group.

After mistakes led to a 108-97 loss to Redlands, the losing streak ended at just one.

"We were able to get off the losing streak, I think we learned from our mistakes, and it was a great test," Cook said. "Shout the opponent – they are well coached, physical, they can win in a multitude of ways, and they really challenged us tonight.

"We had to buy in to the scout, be a better team, and really it just came down to learning from our mistakes in the past couple of games."

The Dubs visit Life Pacific Saturday.

Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.