#3 MEDAILLE, #4 MOUNT ALOYSIUS ADVANCE TO MEN'S BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS

The higher seeds were both victorious in the first round of the AMCC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Wednesday night, as #3 Medaille College earned the 85-74 victory over #6 Franciscan University and #4 Mount Aloysius College won its first ever home post-season game, defeating #5 D'Youville College 72-57.

#3 Medaille 85, #6 Franciscan 74

The first half started out tight as Medaille held a 23-22 edge over Franciscan after the first 12 minutes. Junior guard Brandon Roach came on strong out of the gates, going 3-3 from beyond the arc to lead the blue and gold early in points with nine.  The Maverick lead swelled to seven in the final minute as Norman Hughes nailed a deep three-pointer for his first field goal of the playoffs to make the score 38-31.  The half ended at 39-33 with the Mavericks on top.

Roach knocked down two more shots early in the second half and a Kirk Hawkins strip-and-steal capped a Mavericks' run that gave them their highest lead of the night, sitting at 19 (57-38). The Barons then went on a 9-0 run of their own to get back to within 10 points.  After a timeout, Roach was at it again for Medaille, draining his seventh three-pointer of the evening. The Barons never let up and found themselves down by only five points with six minutes remaining in the game. However, more three-pointers by the Mavericks kept them on top as they held on to the 11 point lead. 

The win sends Medaille to the AMCC Semi-Final game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday.  The Mavericks will take on the Penn-State Behrend Lions with a trip to the AMCC Finals on the line.

#4 Mount Aloysius 72, #5 D'Youville 57
After allowing an early Spartan three pointer, the Mounties built a quick lead with three quick buckets inside to move ahead. When a D'Youville three put the Spartans up two, the Mounties responded with a 9-0 run over 2 minutes. Mount Aloysius' Carlos Palacio got things started with a three off of a pick and pop play. Julian Stover and Imrane Amadou both scored inside on consecutive possessions and Stover capped the run off with a pull up three to force a D'Youville timeout. The Mounties continued to push the lead throughout the middle portion of the half, hitting its high water mark of 13 after a Stover lay-up. D'Youville closed the half on a 17-2 run to take a 33-31 lead into halftime.

After the break, Mountie junior Nate Christian took over. Christian scored 15 points in the second half, including a three minute span when he scored nine straight for the Mounties. The first of these gave the Mounties the lead for good. After D'Youville cut the lead to six with 8:37 to go, Christian came up big as he hit a three while being fouled. Although he missed the free throw, the play re-energized the crowd, setting the tone for the final eight minutes. While the Mounties held the Spartans to only 12 points over the final eight minutes, they also hit their free throws to put the game away, as Stover hit five-of-six and Josiah Jones hit all six.

Christian led Mountie scorers with 20 points. Stover finished just behind him with 19. Palacio recorded his third double-double of the season with 11 Points and 12 rebounds. Tommy Pisula had a big game on the boards for the Mounties, pulling in 13 in total and 8 on the offensive end. 

Jeremy VanDuluitgaarden led D'Youville with 22 points while adding six rebounds.

The win moves the Mounties into the semifinal round of the AMCC Tournament, where they will take on the top seeded La Roche College Redhawks. The Game will be on Saturday evening, with the tip coming at 5:00 PM.