Top-seeded La Roche College narrowly avoided a semifinal upset, as they forced overtime against #4 Mount Aloysius College to advance to the AMCC men's basketball championship game Sunday afternoon. The Redhawks will take on #2 Penn St. Behrend, 82-52 winners over #3 Medaille College in the night cap game.
#1 La Roche 70, #4 Mount Aloysius 62 (OT)
The Kerr Fitness Center was rockin' when La Roche and Mount Aloysius took the court for the first men's semifinal game Saturday evening. Both teams came out hot, as the first five baskets of the game were all three-pointers, with La Roche's Zach Gould accounting for two of them, giving the Redhawks the early 9-6 lead. La Roche extended the lead to five on a Ryan Norkus layup before the Mounties started to climb back. Five points from Mount Aloysius' Carlos Palacios and a bucket and free three from Tommy Pisula gave the Mounties a 17-15 lead. The lead changed several more times throughout the half before a Nate Christian layup at the 6:51 mark put the Mounties up by one, a lead they would hang on to for the remainder of the half. The Mounties led 33-31 at the break.
Mount Aloysius built on their lead in the second half, extending it to ten on a Palacios layup at the 14:17 mark. A 10-0 run over the next seven minues by the Redhawks evened the score at 48 with 7:09 to play. The lead exchanged hands two more times, with the Mounties' four point lead the largest either team would get. The Mount was ahead by three with 0:29 on the clock when Gould nailed a dagger from behind the arc to tie the game at 59 and send it into overtime.
La Roche's Austin Hannes drained a three and added a lay up to open the extra frame to give the Redhawks a quick five point boost. A jump shot and free throw by the Mounties brought them within two, but that's the closest they would get for the remainder of the game. Ray Quan Phifer and Gould combined to go 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final minute as the Redhawks stamped their ticket to the AMCC championship, by the final score of 70-62.
#2 Penn St. Behrend 82, #3 Medaille 52
The Penn St. Behrend Lions came to play as they opened the scoring with a Mike Fischer layup and never looked back. The Lions then got three-pointers from Andy Niland, Malik Brinson, and Fisher to give them an 11-4 lead in the first two and a half minutes of the game. The Mavericks closed the gap to five, but Behrend would just extend the lead once again with a Nolan Nuara three-pointer and two free throws to give the Lions the 10 point advantage. A Cedric Mondjii jump shot with 8:48 remaining in the half brought the Mavs within eight until the Lions once again built the double-digit lead that extended to 17 at the break, as the Lions held the 40-23 advantage.
The Lions continued to cruise in the second half, as they built a 20-point lead within the first five minutes that they never relinquished.
Behrend was led by Dan Wanker with 20 points. Mike Fischer recorded 17 points and Justin Gorny added 13. Meghale Ford was the lone scorer in double figures for the Mavericks with 13.
#1 La Roche and #2 Penn St. Behrend will face off for the AMCC men's basketball championship on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at La Roche.