The quest for the Nationals continued on Saturday as the Westchester Hawks looked to get past the L.I. Lightning-Eichinger during the Metro AAU 17U District Championships.

While the Lightning team fought valiantly, they never overcame an early first half Hawks run and lost, 63-51.

The Lightning attacked the Hawks zone and immediately took an early lead the team from Westchester struggled from the perimeter. Rob Armitrano led the charge as Dan Vanderhoef facilitated from the point.

Joe Godette, however, quickly put the Hawks in the hunt giving them their first lead as he sparked what would be a 16-2 run. With good inside outside play and additional buckets from Dustin Hogue and Kadeem Francis the Hawks would lead by 12 with 6 minutes remaining in the half.

Back-to-backs by Shaan Rahi and Vanderhoef finally ended the Lightning's drought but the Hawks dominated, especially on the offensive end. Key blocks by their enforcer Chris Manhertz and baskets down the stretch from Hogue would the Lightning in a 34-16 hole to start the second half.

The Lightning tried to utilize screens in the second half and while it created opportunities a low field goal percentage hampered progress. At the 13:35 mark Coach Eichinger subbed out his starters in hopes of lighting a fire in his team.

The idea succeeded as Rob Bruns nailed a 3-pointer followed Ryan Kenny with a deuce. While the deficit didn't diminish, it also didn't increase due to the efforts of Brett Cohen and Pat Meehan fought on both ends of the court.

Most of the Lightning starters reentered the game with 9:08 and Hogue quickly scored, followed by Bruns. While the Lightning were being more productive on offense, they were porous on defense as Brian Voelkel swished a three pointer. The Westchester Hawks, capitalizing on their considerable size advantage, continued to attack in the paint and with 5:51 left in regulation, they were still up by 12 points.

With 1:51 remaining, Kenny would hit a clutch three to pull the Lightning to within 9 points but it would not be enough as the Hawks run up the score and run down the clock.

Hogue led the Westchester Hawks with 14 points with Voelkel contributing 12 points. For the L.I. Lightning, Armitrano led the way 13 points followed by Kenny with 8 points.

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