HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Hilbert College men's basketball team rushed out to an early ten point lead and coasted in the second half to a 100-71 non-conference victory over Houghton College tonight in the Hafner Recreation Center.
 
Kirkland Ottey and Trevor Stark matched in the scoring column with game-high honors while Houghton had two players post the same team-high scoring effort.
 
Ottey was perfect from the floor.  He did not miss.  He sank six buckets, three from beyond the arc and hit twice from the charity stripe for 17 points.  Stark was impressive from the floor as well, hitting seven of 13 attempts and dished for four assists and picked up seven steals.
 
Sean Weisansal finished with 14 points, had five assists and added four steals while Jerame Owens  marked for 12 points, led the team with six assists and swiped four steals in his limited action on the floor.
 
Both Tyler McQuaid and Luke Khachadourian led the visitors with 15 points.  The Highlander's John Nelson led all players with 10 rebounds.
 
Hilbert jumped out to a 13-3 advantage mainly off aggressive defense which led the transition scores.  Twice in the first half of the game Jerame Owens blocked a shot, grabbed the ball mid-air, gave a quick outlet pass for a quick bucket at the other end of the floor.
 
Houghton worked the ball on offense and used the clock to pounded the ball inside.  They were successful in getting Hilbert out of their offensive flow; the Highlanders cut the score to two points 15-13 by 12:40. 
 
Hilbert picked up their intensity and extended the defense to three-quarter court to reeve the scoring engine back up again before half time.  Unfortunately after building another double-digit lead – 13 points twice – the Hawks went cold the last five minutes of the first half and Houghton went to the locker room trailing 39-32.
 
After the brief meeting in the team room, Hilbert returned to true form and exploded to a 21 point second-half lead with 14:49 on clock.  Ottey opened with back-to-back three pointers and Stark scored off a Jerame Owens steal in the press. 
 
Houghton committed four turnovers their first four possessions which fed a hungery Hawks team the ball; they ran the floor and scored in out-numbering situations often and built a 51-32 lead.
 
Even when the Highlanders fell back into their scrappy zone defense, the Hawks shared the ball and looked for the open jumper or drove down the middle of the paint for two.
 
All twelve of Hilbert's players scored tonight which led to home team's first 100-point game this year.
 
Hilbert finished the game with a 49.4 field goal percentage and 44.4 percent from beyond the 3-point line.  They struggled at the line hitting only 16 of 26 attempts. 
 
The Hawks garnered 20 offensive rebounds and finished with a total of 49 which was just nine more than the visitors.  Hilbert's defensive effort was rewarded with 18 steals out of the 24 Highlander turnovers.

The Hawks finish their season with two tough road games against two of the three top teams in the AMCC.  This Saturday, Hilbert is at Pitt-Greensburg and next Wednesday, Feb 18 they take on Penn State Behrend.  

They close their regular season schedule with a home game Feb 21 where the men's basketball program will honor their three seniors: Ryan Brewster, Jordan Kumro and Trevor Stark.