Heritage Academy Hawks Hover Over Groves Academy Griffins

The Heritage Academy Hawks flew in to the Groves Academy gym on a frigid Tuesday night and got a game high 20 points from Aburahkman Musee to lead them to a 78-42 rout of the Griffins in St. Louis Park.  

Zachary Roblay scored the Hawks first basket :37 into the game.  Max Bilcik would put the Griffins ahead with five straight points but Musee would score to regain the lead for Heritage Academy.  Foul trouble would plague the Hawks in the first half when Ibrahim Mohamed picked up his second foul and Abdulahe Jama picked up his third foul with 7:28 left in the half,.  But Musee picked up the slack by scoring four straight points.  Max Greseth made his home debut for Groves Academy, coming off the bench and he scored to end the Heritage Academy run.  It would be one of the few bright spots for the Griffins in the first half as the Hawks began to pull away, scoring 17 consecutive points.  Martin Schmitz would end the run for Groves Academy.  Foul trouble also hit the Griffins in the first half when Malik Bodden went to the bench with his third foul with 2:41 to go.  Heritage Academy would widen their lead which would end up at halftime 45-14.  

The Hawks would begin the second half with a couple of three pointers from Musee and Jama.  Bilcik would score to end the early 6-0 run.  There would be some life for the Griffins when it was discovered that Heritage Academy did not enter a number 11 in the scorebook so the referee assessed the Hawks a technical foul.  Following Schmitz's free throws, Bilcik would shoot the technical free throws and the Griffins remained in possession.  However, it did little to cut the Hawks margin since Bilcik would pick up his fourth foul with 12:24 remaining.  Heritage Academy would use its speed,  athleticism and scoring depth to wear down Groves Academy and head coach Ahmil Jihad would go to his bench with the game decided  The game was also on the verge of heading into running time but the Griffins would go on a 9-0 run to delay the start of running time.  They would also get a scare when Bilcik was hit in the nose in front of the seating area.  Fortunately, it wasn't serious and he would return to the game in a couple of minutes though the game would enter running time with less than a minute to play.  

Other players in double figures for Heritage Academy were Ahkmid Mohamed with 16 points.  Hussein Kahdee had 11 and Abdi Fatah added 10.  Groves Academy was led by Bilcik's 16 points.  Bodden was the only other Griffin in double figures, tallying 11 points.  

Before coming to Heritage Academy, Jihad was the head girls basketball coach at Minneapolis South.  One of the players he coached would go on to greater success at Ohio State University and the WNBA's Washington Mystics, Tayler Hill.  Jihad looked back at what it was like coaching a player like Hill.  

"She came to practice.  I have not seen a kid yet that could match her work ethic."  

The Hawks improved their record to 1-2 and host the High School for Recording Arts Wednesday, December 14 at 7 PM.  Groves Academy fell to 0-3 and continues their home stand on Thursday, December 15 against the St. Paul Prep Falcons at 7 PM.