CRESSON, Pa. – The Hilbert College men's basketball team's shooting touch caught fire on Sunday, January 24 when they were finally able to take the court at Mount Aloysius College. 

The Hawks burned the nets with 55.4 field goal percentage with a red-hot 65.6% in the second half to claim a 101-76 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference victory over the Mounties.

Jalen Smith found his shooting touch knocking down 7-of-10 from beyond the arc plus a few lay-ups to lead all scorers with 28 points. 

Ryan Bradt's offensive production has been impressive the last few games as he added another 18-point effort connecting on 7-of-9 around the hoop plus four at the foul line.

The other three starters, Jerame Owens (13), Sean Weisansal (12) and Kirkland Ottey (11) all notched double digit scoring to keep the Hawks in 3rd place in the league standings at 8-3.

Weisansal had an all-around impressive game and was one assist away from a triple-double.  The senior guard was credited with 11 rebounds (second career double-double) and nine of the Hawks' 19 team assists.

Owens pulled down 14 rebounds and grabbed two more steals inching towards the Hawks' All Time Steal leader record.

Malique McCoy and Xavier Major each grabbed six rebounds to help the Hawks' out-rebound the hosts 49-34.

Neither team was able to hold a lead very long through the game's first seven minutes of action.  Back-to-back three pointers by Weisansal and Smith extended Hilbert's first large lead of six points by 12:32.  Both teams traded buckets until the Mounties crawled back to a 28-25 lead after a traditional 3-point play at 7:23. 
Smith hit his second long-ball to regain the lead (30-28) and after Owens was credited with a steal 50-seconds later, Smith sank another shot beyond the arc plus an easy shot from the foul line for a 4-point play and a 34-28 Hilbert lead,

Mount Aloysius didn't go away and forced another tie at 34-all with 4:14 on the clock.  Smith responded with another 3-pointer lifting the Hawks back on top for good. 

After the break, the Mounties cut the score to 46-43 and were becoming a threat to regain the lead.  But Smith carried the Hawks with 11-straight points posting the Hawks first double-digit lead with 16 minutes left in the game. 

The Hawks were on a roll and the air was taken out of any comeback by the Mounties at that point.

Bradt tallied 16 second half markers and Owens cleared the boards with six rebounds.  Weisansal dished five second-half assists and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Hilbert will travel to the westside of Buffalo this week for their rematch against D'Youville College January 27th at 6pm.  Fans can view the game by following this link.