Hilbert College Athletics

Jalen Smith came off the bench to give the men’s basketball team a huge lift this weekend and, for his steady play, earned his first Hawk of the Week honor.

The sophomore from Batavia averaged 23 minutes of error-less basketball as he wasn’t tagged with any turnovers. He sizzled the nets with 57.1% shooting from the floor and a very impressive 62.5% behind the 3-point arc over the course of three victories last week.

The Hawks outlasted Houghton College (94-91) and Smith lifted them with 14 points in 16 minutes.  He then dialed-up a perfect shooting performance from long distance (5 for 5) to give new life to the team when they needed it most against Chatham University in the opening round of the tournament.  He was also credited with four assists to help the Hawks advance to their championship game.  The southpaw gave Hilbert 25 quality minutes as part of the starting five and he scored 10 points in the final game of the week.