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Hawks Battle Until the Final Buzzer Against Behrend

2/18/2015 11:04:00 PM

Box Score

Erie, Pa. - The Hilbert College men's basketball team battled Penn State Behrend, the number one team in the AMCC, to a 64-62 loss. Behrend came into the game with ten straight AMCC wins and a 21-2 overall record. After falling to the Lions by 21 (73-52) in mid January, Hilbert's strong performance tonight shows their growth since that game and that they still have room to get better.
 
 Jerame Owens and Trevor Stark each notched 17 points on the night. Stark added a game-high five assists and six boards, while Owens pulled down eight rebounds in the loss. Xaiver Major and Kirkland Ottey chipped in nine points each. 
 
The Lions were led by Wes Davic's 24 points on only 11 shot attempts . Zane Hackett posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
A rebound by Stark led to his own lay-up in transition to give Hilbert their first lead of the night (5-4). The Lions went ahead by as many as 12 in the first half (26-14) but the Hawks never played defeated and continued to battle.
 
Despite the adversity, five straight points by Ottey cut the Behrend lead to one with 3:47 remaining in the first half. One minute later, Major powered his way for a lay-up to give Hilbert the 29-28 lead. Behrend used a couple free throws and a lay-up to go into the break with the 34-30 advantage.
 
Hilbert came out of the locker room with a purpose and stunned the Lions by scoring the first eight points - four by Major and four by Owens. Davic ended the Hawks 8-0 run with a deep three-pointer but Stark immediately countered with a trey of his own. 
 
Hackett's old-fashioned three-point play gave the Lions a nine-point advantage with 6:41 remaining. Stark got himself to the rim and Owens was able to grab an offensive rebound on a free-throw to set-up Major for a bucket to bring the Hawks within five.
 
With 83 ticks left, Sean Weisansal connected on two free throws to make it a 59-56 game. Major made a steal on the other end and Owens' transition lay-up was halfway down before it rattled out. Stark grabbed the offensive rebound but could not connect and the Lions went the other way.
 
Owens and Stark continued to put points on the board for Hilbert as they purposely sent the Lions to the free throw line but the Hawks could not overcome the deficit. Stark finished a lay-up with .8 seconds left and despite strong defensive pressure, the Hawks tipped the ball on the inbounds pass and the game ended 64-62 in the Lions favor.
 
Hilbert was able to generate 21 points off of Lion turnovers but the Hawks gave up 17 points on second chances while only scoring six of their own. Neither team saw a lot of scoring from their bench (6 points each) but the Lions outrebounded the Hawks 43-31. Behrend also outshot the Hawks 46.2% to 40.4%. Neither team was impressive from the free throw line, as the Hawks shot 54.2% and the Lions shot 57.7%. The Hawks missed 11 free throws in the two-point loss.
 
Hilbert (18-6, 12-5 AMCC) concludes their regular season play this Saturday, February 21st at 3pm. Prior to the tip-off, Trevor Stark, Ryan Brewster, and Jordan Kumro will be honored in a special Senior Day presentation.