The Ringwood Hawks remain one game clear on top of the Big V ladder after an inspiring 15 point win over the Knox Raiders on Saturday night at the State Basketball Centre.

In the lead up to the game, the Hawks went all the way to last year’s game against Knox and used that as motivation. In the corresponding game last year, the Hawks lost but according to Assistant Coach Willie Weimer, it was more about how they lost.

“Last year we started the game well but lost our composure.” Weimer said.

“So this time, it was about staying in the moment, one play at a time and playing through adversity.”

The Hawks plan looked good early as they jumped out to an 8 point lead. It did not take long though as the Hawks were quickly tested in the second quarter. Knox grabbed the lead and the Hawks new plan was about to be tested.

After a time out and some offensive adjustments, Ringwood found some space for import Scottie Stone (26 points) and Jacob Gibson (23 points and 9 rebounds) and they quickly regained the lead. They also had regained their composure.

The Hawks did not look back and went on to a comfortable 15 point win, which was punctuated by Stone who finished the night with 7 from 14 on his three point attempts.

Weimer paid tribute to Trevor Latham (13 points and 9 rebounds) who not only played well at the offensive end of the court but did a terrific job defensively.

“We had been waiting for Trev to play like this.” Weimer said.

“He takes our team to a new level when he is active and aggressive.”

Weimer also mentioned the work of injury restricted Matt Snow who played 38 plus minutes and was the main reason the Hawks were able to play through the Raiders physical pressure.

“Next week Snowy will play his 400th game and every single one of them was with this Club.”

“The guy is a simply amazing, I am sure next week will pack the Rings and pay tribute to a player of the like that we will never see again.”

The Hawks have a very testing Double Header next week starting with Snowy’s 400th on Saturday night at home against the Casey Cavaliers and then a trip to Blackburn on Sunday to face the Vikings at Knox Basketball Centre in Boronia.

RINGWOOD HAWKS 91 (Stone 26, Gibson 23, Latham 13, Fennell 11, Clarke 11) defeated KNOX RAIDERS 76 at the State Basketball Centre.

Watch a replay of the game here.