Momentum in athletics is such a fickle thing. One never knows when it will appear, how long it will last, or when it will disappear and therefore disappoint. The ACGC boys' basketball team had a brief flirtation with the fickle entity last night before it disappeared into the night and left the Chargers wth only a memory of its presence.

Trailing Woodward-Granger 29-18 at halftime, the local boys encountered momentum in the third quarter and put together a nineteen point quarter to close the gap to 41-37 after the third stanza. But then the fickleness of momentum showed itself when it deserted the Chargers and chose to cavort with the Hawks who went on a twenty seven point binge in the fourth quarter to

take a 68-48 victory. Keith Braunschweig, who went scoreless in the first half, led the surge as he scored fifteen in the second half, including ten in the final eight minutes.

The Hawks jumped to a 14-4 lead after the first frame as the Chargers could connect on only one of seven shot attempts. The teams played evenly in the second quarter and the half ended with W-G leading 29-18.

The Hawks extended the lead after the halftime intermission to 34-20 before the Chargers put together a 10-0 run over a two minute span to close the gap to 34-30. A three pointer by Bryce Littler with two seconds left in the quarter maintained the deficit at four, 41-37.

Then momentum switched sides, leaving the Chargers high and dry, and leading the Hawks to a remarkable fourth quarter shooting display. W-G attempted eleven field goals in the last quarter and missed ONE! They made their first five attempts, took a break and missed one, and then connected on their final five shots of the game. The Chargers' very respectable four of eight from the field was no match for the Hawk surge. Momentum's fickle, even traitorous, nature proved itself once again. It is an unreliable ally, but when on your side it is a delightful experience!

Bryce Littler led the Charger scoring with 15 points, with "Q" Younker coming up with 9. Younker led in rebounds with 9, while Will Byars snared 6. No one had more than two assists or steals for the Chargers. The team had a respectable shooting night, connecting on 19 of 42 attempts for 45% and 5 of 7 from the charity stripe for 71%. The Chargers hit 5 of 16 three pointers for 31%.

Woodward-Granger's hot shooting in the fourth quarter enabled them to shoot 60% for the game with 27 makes out of 45 tries.

With the loss the Charger record falls to 4-6 on the season (2-6, WCAC) heading into today's matchup with Exira-Elkhorn-Kimballton. Things get started at 3 PM with the girls' game, with the boys to follow.

Score by quarter:

W-G 14 15 12 27--68

ACGC 4 14 19 11--48

Box score: REB

FG 3PT FT O-D AST STL TP

EKading 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 2

Sargent 2-5 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 1 5

Nelson 2-6 1-3 0-0 1-1 1 1 5

Marsh 2-3 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 0 4

MKading 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Byars 2-3 0-0 1-2 1-5 0 1 5

Pauley 1-3 1-3 0-1 0-1 0 0 3

Littler 5-12 2-3 3-3 1-2 2 0 15

Younker 4-8 0-2 1-1 5-4 2 2 9