The Hawks lost sole possession of second place Friday night after they fell 83-74 to Chabot in a Coast Conference North Division game in Hayward.

LPC and Chabot, which have split their two matchups this season, are both 6-3 in the conference, three games behind 9-0 City College of San Francisco with three games remaining. CCSF clinched a tie for the conference title with a 60-point victory over Cañada.

The Hawks, 16-8 overall and ranked #18 in the state and #9 in Northern California, have never finished in the top 2 in the standings. Their best finish came in 2012 when they went 7-5, good for third place.

Early on against Chabot (18-8 overall, #13 in the state, #6 in NorCal), a seventh conference victory looked promising for the Hawks. LPC carved up the Gladiators’ zone and, later, their full-court press in building leads of 13-5 and 19-9.

However, LPC, which made 7 of its first 8 field goal attempts, cooled off from the floor, and the Gladiators pulled even at 25-25. Chabot then took its first lead at 30-27 with 6:18 left in the first half. Chabot outscored LPC 11-4 to finish the half with a 41-31 advantage.

Darius Limbrick, making his first start of the season, opened the second half with a three-pointer, and Brandon Eboigbodin followed with a three-point play as the Hawks moved within 41-37. Chabot stabilized, then eventually built its biggest lead of the game at 63-48 midway through the half.

It was 67-54 before Limbrick scored all of the Hawks’ points during a 9-2 run, pulling LPC within 69-63 with 6:18 left. The Hawks missed consecutive three-point attempts before a bucket and two free throws by Chabot gave the Gladiators a 10-point advantage at 73-63 at the 3:37 mark.

Still, the Hawks didn’t give up, eventually  getting a three from Kameron Johnson and a baseline jumper from Ellis Salahuddin, making the score 77-71 with 30.3 seconds left.  After 2 Chabot free throws, Johnson hit another three with 18.1 remaining, cutting the deficit to 79-74, but those were the last points LPC would score.

Johnson finished with 20 points, Eboigbodin added 19, Limbrick contributed a season-high 16, and Cameron Moses had 10.

The Hawks, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped, will seek redemption against Cañada in their next game Feb. 10 at 5 p.m. in Livermore. LPC lost to Cañada 80-73 Jan. 13, its first loss after 10 straight victories.