GREENSBURG, Pa. –  The Hilbert College men's basketball team garnered another AMCC victory with their 82-71 road win over Pitt.-Greensburg this afternoon and secured their 7th consecutive trip to the post-season tournament. 

At 10-6, Hilbert currently sits in a 5th place tie for with Pitt.-Bradford, but holds the tie-breaker since they earned a series sweep over the Panthers this year.  (at the time of this post, the Bradford / Behrend game was just underway).

Three different Hawks tossed in 16 points, led by Derrek Carman's 16 p/11-rebound effort, earned in 27 minutes of action.  Carman, collecting his third double-double in the last four games, cleared the offensive glass five times today.

Kirkland Ottey went 7-for-9 at the foul line and hit three shots from downtown while Nicholas Parucki sank eight buckets. 

Jalen Smith found his way to 15 points with a 50% 3-point success rate while he swept four steals in the win.  Hunter Martineau went 3-for-4 from the floor and was perfect at the foul line.  He added six rebounds, three assists and two steals.  Masia Phillips distributed on offense with four assists and led the defense with two blocks.

Hilbert earned their largest lead in the early part of the game when Phillips made a pair of free throws at 16:05 for a 10-5 score.  The Bobcats' 3-point shot at 11:41 gave the hosts a two-point lead (14-12) which they stretched to 11 points, twice.  Joe Mancini knocked down a 3-point shot to start the run and both at the back-end of the Bobcat run by 3:45.  Ottey found his range from deep and Parucki struck twice before Smith connected for back-to-back 3-point shots which gave Hilbert a 38-36 lead late in the opening half. Carman closed the session with four points finishing the 17-0 Hilbert run for a 42-36 advantage.

Twice Greensburg cut the score down to a four-point difference within the first 11 minutes of the second half.  Martineau's old fashion 3-point play and Smith's layup stretched the difference back to nine points but the hosts would not quit.

Finally, with 2:49 left, Smith's bucket in the lane combined with three consecutive Ottey free throws gave Hilbert the cushion they needed (80-67) with 1:55 remaining.

Hilbert out rebounded Greensburg 52-31 and grabbed 23 offensive rebounds of which they converted into only 14 second chance points.

The Hawks survived their lowest field goal percentage rate of the season (.368) but benefited from their 90.5% effort at the foul line, their highest of the season.

Hilbert (14-9) has two games left on their regular season schedule.  The Hawks will host Penn State Behrend February 15 and close the season against Mt. Aloysius February 18.   The men's program will honor Kirkland Ottey and Kyle Kline prior to the Mt. Aloysius game and they would love your support as they celebrate these two seniors.