HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Hilbert College men's basketball will return to the Hawks Against Hunger Tip-Off Tournament Championship game for the seventh time in the last eight years  after they earned a 79-63 victory over Waynesburg University tonight.

The Hawks will meet Utica College (Empire 8) who earned a 72-63 win against RPI (Liberty League conference) in the opening game of the evening.

Waynesburg, from the Presidents Athletic Conference, opened their season tonight in Hamburg and stayed with the Hawks who claimed a win over another PAC opponent (Grove City) on Tuesday night.  The Yellow Jackets didn't show any first-game sluggishness early in contest and kept it a game for the first ten minutes of action.

With a knotted score at 11's, Hilbert went on a 6-point run and started to pull away late in the first half.  The score hovered at that 7-point spread until Hunter Martineau's traditional 3-point play started another Hilbert run.

Masia Phillips scored a fastbreak layup just before Joseph Braniecki hit a pair at the foul line.  Javon Roberts sliced into the lane and lifted Hilbert by 15 (39-24) with 50-seconds left in the first half.

Martineau was one rebound shy of posting his first double double of the season by intermission.  He scored 11 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in 17 minutes of action. 

As a team, Hilbert held a 30-9 advantage on the glass and hit 50% of their field goals.

The closest Waynesburg could get in the second half was at 16:01 when they sliced the difference to 10 points (45-35).  

Alex Karanamos started and ended a 10-point run with an old fashioned three-point play and two more freebies at the charity stripe setting a 20-point spread that the Hawks never looked back.

Four Hilbert players notched double figures, led by Martineau's 11.  Masia Phillips and Keith Jackson matched with double dimes and Javon Roberts added 11  points after hitting 4-of-5 from the floor.

Karamanos didn't miss tonight, sinking both field goal attempts and all three free throws.

The Hawks dominated the glass (51-23) but committed 26 turnovers.

Earlier in the evening, Utica battled with RPI till the late minutes of the game.  Four Pioneers reached double digit scoring, led by Shaw Gashi's 15 points.    The box score for the first game is linked at the top of this story.

Tomorrow's Championship game marks the third time in the 9-year tournament history that Hilbert and Utica will battle for the title.  In 2013, the Hawks came out on top (88-80) while the Pioneers claimed the win in 2011 (74-61).

Be sure to stay up-to-date on all your Hilbert Hawk scores and awards by following @HilbertAthletic on Twitter and by liking the "Hilbert College Athletics" Facebook page.  Additionally, fans of the Hawks who have an Apple device can receive push notification from the newly created Hilbert College Hawks iOS SIDEARM mobile App which can be found in the Apple Store and ITunes.