Scott McClary didn’t want to leave his teams playoff fate to chance. Bethlehem Catholic came into the week 10-10 overall needing one more win in their final two games to clinch a district postseason berth.

McClary and the Hawks erased any doubt of their postseason fate with a 64-57 win over Easton on Monday.

The victory gave them the final ticket to the District 11 4A tournament and McClary was happy his group could accomplish that goal.

“We are focused on that and we look at any postseason berths as consequences to accomplishing that growth,” said McClary of qualifying for the playoffs. “ We obviously were focused on getting to 11 wins and just playing our best when our best matters.”

The Hawks are still dealing with health issues, as Marcus Drysdale and Nicholas Bennett are out for the year.

McClary expects Jackson Wickenheiser to be back, despite still being bothered by injury.

“We are not fully healthy and will not be for the remainder of the year. We are getting Wickenheiser back, but he is about 50-percent right now and is only forcing his way back because he is a senior, otherwise he would be out for the year.”

After winning four straight to start the month of January, the Hawks were losers of three of their last four coming into this week and that’s a trend McClary hopes they can flip as they close out the regular season against Harry S. Truman on Thursday.

“We are not hitting our stride based on the past week, but the week prior to that we would have said yes,” he said. “That is the nature of sports, especially basketball, each week or day is it’s own day to both grow and build on what you are becoming. It’s a constant growth mindset that sets teams apart.”