HAMBURG, N.Y. - For the second time in the last three games, Senior guard Darrell Barron came up clutch when his team needed him the most. In just his third game of the season, Barron hit the go-ahead bucket as the shot clock expired to put La Roche up 88-86 with less than 16 seconds to go in Saturday's battle with Hilbert College. LRU's defense forced the Hawks leading scorer and former USBWA National Player of the Week recipient, Hunter Martineu, to miss the teams final two shot attempts. Martineau finished with a game leading 30 points, just two shy of his career-high. The Redhawks have completed six second half comebacks this season, two of them coming against Hilbert. La Roche defeated the Hawks in both games this season by five points combined.
After trailing by three at the half, La Roche outscored Hilbert 55-50 in the second while shooting 60.6% (20-33) from the field and 53.8% (7-13) from deep. Five different Redhawks finished in double-digit scoring figures.
Tyler Frederick finished with a team-high 19 points and contributed four rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block.
Freshman guard Joe Pipilo scored all of his season-high 15 points in just nine minutes in the second half, knocking down 4 of 7 (57%) three-pointers and 3 of 3 free-throws. Pipilo has averaged 11.7 points and 3.3 triples in his last three games.
Austin Hannes and Kennedy Smith were stat sheet twins, each posted 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Darius Lawrence went for 11 points while shooting an efficient 4 of 6 from the field and 2 of 2 at the line.
The Redhawks, now winners of nine straight, improved to 17-1 in conference play this season, guaranteeing them at least a share of the regular season league title and the number one seed for the AMCC tournament. La Roche will hosts the AMCC men's basketball tournament on Friday February 28th and Saturday February 29th at the Kerr Fitness Center. More details to follow.
LRU is 4-0 in games decided by four points or less this season.
Final: La Roche: 88, Hilbert: 86
Records: La Roche (17-6, AMCC: 17-1), Hilbert (15-8, AMCC: 11-7)
How it Happened
The offensive juggernauts went shot for shot to start the contest, both teams shooting a combined 8 for 11 from the floor through the first three minutes. La Roche held a slight edge over Hilbert before the Hawks produced a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the contest up 20-17 with 10:06 still to go in the first.
Hilbert retained their narrow advantage over the Redhawks for the duration of the half and headed into the break up 36-33. Any time either team started to get on a run, the other had an answer. Neither team led by more than four points in a first half that saw six ties and three lead changes.
After trailing by as many as seven points to start the second, Joe Pipilo hit a corner three off an assist from Jioni Smith to tie the game 57-57 with 11:03 still to play. The teams continued to battle before La Roche was finally able to produce a 7-0 run to go up 73-65 with just under seven minutes left in the second. Hunter Martineau tied the game at 80 points a piece after stealing the ball and going coast-to-coast.
Over the next two and a half minutes, the conference foes would tie each three more times. Tied 86-86, Austin Hannes dumped the ball off to a moving Darrell Barron to switch directions, Barron found space at the top of the key, and nailed the deep shot with his foot on 3-PT line. La Roche's defense then forced one of the most prolific offensive players in the conference, Hunter Martineau, to miss his final two shots of the game.
Inside the Box Score
Neither team committed more than 10 turnovers (La Roche: 9, Hilbert: 8)
After shooting 0-3 from the floor in the first, Austin Hannes turned things around and scored 12 of his 13 points in the second half while draining 5 of 9 FG.
The Hawks dominated on the glass, out-rebounding LRU 44-30, tying the Redhawks lowest rebound total in a game this season.
La Roche dished 15 assists to Hilberts 11. The Redhawks have recorded 15 or more assists in each of their last four games.
The Redhawks offense has shot over 51% from the floor and 42% from three point range in each of their last three games.
NEXT UP: #1 La Roche visits #2 Pitt Greesnburg next Wednesday, February 19th in the second to last regular season game of the season. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.