Rockville, MD –The Maryland Nighthawks beat the Strong Island Sound 115-110 Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd of 1,800 at Montgomery College’s Rockville Campus.
Sun Ming Ming made his Nighthawks debut and finished with eight points, four rebounds, and three blocked shots in 20:46 of action.
The Nighthawks went to Sun early on in the first quarter where he was a perfect two for two from the field and finished with four points and two blocked shots. Sun hit an eight foot baseline jumper 2:28 into the game and then dunked the ball with 5:16 reamaining in the first quarter bringing the sold out crowd to it’s feet.
Andrew “Spongebob” Washington led the Nighthawks with 32 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists and Randy “White Chocolate” Gill had 22 points and six assists including a season high six three pointers.
“Now you have someone that opposing teams have to pay attention to. [Sun] is going to draw the double team,” explained Gill. “It opens up the floor and it creates a lot more space.”
After the Nighthawks built a 108-102 with 3:17 remaining in the game, Strong Island went on an 8-0 run to take a 110-108 advantage with 55 seconds to go. Randy “White Chocolate” Gill ended the run by hitting a 22 foot baseline three pointer with 33 seconds to go to put the Nighthawks back on top 111-110.
Strong Island’s Chris Grant was called for traveling on the ensuing possession and Andrew “Spongebob” Washington converted four free throws in the final 11 seconds to give the Nighthawks the victory.
Nighthawks Head Coach Will Rankin picked up his first win in his first game as Nighthawks coach and said the win was a “total team effort.”
The Nighthawks next play Monday evening at 7:05 pm when they travel down to Wilmington, North Carolina to face the Sea Dawgs.
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