Hamburg, N.Y. – Hilbert senior Masia Phillips totaled a season-high 24 points while senior point guard Hunter Martineau added 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds to lead the Hawks to a 90-77 victory over Buffalo Cup rival Medaille.

THE BASICS

• Final Score: Hilbert 90 Medaille 77
• Location: Hafner Recreation Center, Hilbert College 6pm
• Records: Hilbert 7-1 (3-0 AMCC) | Medaille 2-5 (0-2 AMCC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Hilbert started out the game swarming on defense, forcing the Mavericks into taking numerous low percentage shots which helped build an early 15-8 lead over the first 7 minutes of play.
• The following possession Medaille's Julen Blazquez sunk a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 15-11 before Hilbert went on a 15-6 run over the next 3 minutes, fueled by a pair of Ant Moynihan threes to take a double digit lead.
• After both teams traded baskets with one another over the next couple minutes of action, Masia Phillips drained back to back threes to extend the Hilbert lead to 42-23 with 5:37 to go in the opening half.
• Phillips maintained his hot hand over the remainder of the half, finishing with an impressive 18 points over the opening 20 minutes of play.
• Medaille closed the half on a run of their own, outscoring Hilbert 12-4 over the final 5 minutes to cut the deficit to 46-35 at the intermission.
• The Mavericks came out of the break determined to close the gap by feeding the paint for easy baskets. Just when they began to gather momentum, Ryan Hogan hit a big step back three to extend the Hilbert lead back to double digits for the royal and white.
• At the 12 minute mark of the second half, Medaille decided to shift to zone defense, which slowed the Hilbert attack. Soon afterwards, Medaille's Tyler Sealy drained a three to ignite the offense. The Mavs followed Sealy's three by attacking the hoop to cut the Hilbert lead to 69-62 with 8:18 to go.
• Senior Alex Karamanos answered with a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and Hunter Martineau followed that up with a 3-point play the old fashioned way to stop the bleeding a minute later.
• The Mavericks wouldn't go away without a fight as they cut the lead to 75-69 thanks to strong play down low by Jonathon Smith, but Martineau answered yet again with another 3-point play with 5:05 remaining in the game.
• Medaille's Kirk Hawkins added a 3-point play as well with just under 4 minutes to go. The Mavericks followed that with a big stop on the defensive end before Hawkins drove to the basket for another bucket to get Medaille within four points of tying it up with 3:08 left on the clock.
• Over the next two minutes of game play, Martineau fed junior Ryan Hogan for a pair of clutch threes to widen the lead and ultimately seal the Hawks win.
• Masia Phillips tallied a team-high 24 points, while freshman Jon Evans ripped down a team-best eight rebounds and Hunter Martineau dished out a team-high eight assists.
• Jonathon Smith led all Medaille scorers with a game-high 26, while also finishing with a game-high nine rebounds and Kirk Hawkins finished with a team-high five assists.

GAME NOTES

• The Hawks bench was the biggest difference in the game as they outscored the Mavericks bench 22-8, led by junior Ryan Hogan who tallied all 10 of his points in the second half.
• Hilbert out-rebounded Medaille 39-32 and held an 18-16 advantage in second chance points.
• The free throw line kept Medaille in it throughout as they held a 33-28 advantage in free throws attempted, and sunk 22 to Hilbert's 16.
• The Hawks finished the game shooting 31 of 58 (53.4%) from the floor, including 12 of 26 (46.2%) from 3-point range and finished 16 of 28 (57.1%) from the free throw line.   
• Medaille shot 25 of 54 (46.3%) from the floor, including 5 of 18 from the 3-point line (27.8%), while going 22 of 33 (66.7%) from the charity stripe.  

WHAT'S NEXT

Hilbert travels to Steubenville, Ohio on Saturday to take on the Franciscan Barons in an AMCC contest beginning at 2pm.

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