How would the Hawks react at 'The Nest'? 

The visiting Gladiators found out. 

Las Positas surged again behind sophomore stars Jaden Woodard, Richard Banks and Kodey Weary, along with active freshman force, 6-foot-9 Ted Bigg-Wither, and won going away, 83-68, to improve to 16-1 overall and 3-0 in the Coast Conference-North Division. The Hawks, ranked No. 9 in the state, remain tied for first place with reigning state champion and No. 1-ranked City College of San Francisco (16-1, 3-0) in the conference. Chabot, ranked tied for No. 26 in the state, dropped to 13-4 and 2-1.

Consider it a big win and a lesson learned for the Hawks.

"We've got to learn to keep the peddle to the metal," Las Positas head Coach James Giacomazzi said of the temporary second-half slide. "When we kind of take the foot off the peddle a little bit we lose focus and we just don't play like ourselves. We've got to learn from, 'Hey, teams are gonna keep bringing the energy in our league, and we've got to make sure that we come ready to play every minute of the game."

With about 8:19 left in the second half, Woodard, who led the way with 23 points, made a statement with his usual bravado. He aggressively dived for a loose ball in traffic, gained control, and the possession arrow pointed toward Las Positas. Soon after, he converted an old-fashioned three-point play to up the lead to 12 points, and tacked on a 3-pointer from beyond the arc soon after Bigg-Wither powered inside for a basket. Just like that, the Hawks' lead was 72-57.

"That's what you need from your sophomores, don't you?" Giacomazzi said. "We leaned heavily on our sophomores last year and it worked for our favor, and hopefully we can do the same with these guys this year."

Woodard agreed with his coach that Hawks let up a little bit in the second half.

"In the first half we were being the aggressors, and the second we started off a little bit slow … It's a game of runs, so they were on a little bit of a run and we just had to slow them down," Woodard said. "Once we got back up and started being the aggressor a little bit more, we got the lead back up."

Weary (19 points) took charge inside during a personal eight-point run in the waning stages, courtesy of six free throws along with a layup. Banks (18 points), a smooth floor leader, later scored to make it 82-66. Banks helped stem the tide early in the second half, scoring eight of the Hawks' 10 points during a span of about 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Banks and Weary are both Weston Ranch (Stockton) graduates, along with Khristian Holmes, whose 3-pointer upped the lead to 37-27 in the first half.

Bigg-Wither kept the paint plugged up throughout the game.

"He's a long drink of water, right?" Giacomazzi said of the Australian with a smile. "It's hard to score on him, we've got to show him a little foot placement and being in from help (defense) to close and not being too connected to his man off the ball, but we're getting there."

Weary said the Hawks knew they were in another big game, so they "came out and played hard." What's the key to this bunch?

"I think we have a lot of everything," he said. "We have a lot of skilled players and we really attack the paint hard and we can post-up and we have a tall big that takes care of business. We have an all around hard-working team, really play hard on defense and attack the ball really well."

Chabot was led by Zion Yeargin (20 points, seven rebounds), Oz Savage (16 points, eight rebounds) and Amani Johnson (15 points, five rebounds). The Glads know they will need to up their game when they host the Hawks on Feb. 6.

"We will be prepared for the next time we play," said Chabot interim head coach Marquis Glenn. "Minor adjustments."

Chabot will need a win in the rematch to hold on to the Chabot-Las Positas Rivalry Trophy, which is housed by the the program that wins both times in conference play or two of three if the teams meet also in nonconference play.