In AMCC tournament first round action, #3 La Roche University men's basketbal team defeated #6 Hilbert College 89-71, while #4 Medaille College picked up the 64-61 victory over #5 Pitt-Greensburg. La Roche and Medaille will each advance to the semifinal round of the championship tournament, which will be played at Penn State Behrend. The Mavs will be matched up with #1 Penn State Behrend at 6:00pm, while the Redhawks will face off with #2 Penn State Altoona at 8:30pm.
La Roche 89, Hilbert 71
In the beginning of the first period it was anyone's game, as Hilbert went on a early seven point scoring run. The Redhawks then went to work and were able to give themselves a comfortbale lead going into halftime, as they were ahead by 21 at the break. Redhawk freshman Kadyn Hannah kept La Roche in front, as he shot 58.8 percent from the field, while recording 12 points, three rebounds, and two assists in the first half. Freshman Michael Brooks also had a strong first half with 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals before the break. However, coming out of the locker room was a different story. Hilbert was able to claw themselves back in the game in the second half, as they came as close as eight points with 7:28 to play when a Hilbert jumper made it 73-65. La Roche G/F Joe Pipilo came alive in the second half, as he netted 16 points, and captained the ship in rebounds with nine, while also contributing five assists. The sophomore shot 58.3 percent from field goal range and had two made three point shots on the night. Another contributor to the Redhawks success was their defense. The defense forced 16 turnovers (La Roche had four turnovers) from the Hawks and made sure to put them to good use. The team turned those turnovers into 20 points. The team's offense also went hard in the paint. The Redhawks put up 50 points to Hilbert's 38 in the paint. Hannah finished with a game-high of 25 points, while also adding five rebounds and four assists. Pipilo recorded 16 points, nine rebounds, and five assists for the Redhawks. Leading the way for Hilbert was forward Nevada Eldridge who recorded 19 points and six rebounds.
Medaille 64, Pitt-Greensburg 61
The Bobcats came out aggressive wasting no time getting on the scoreboard, but the Mavs stayed with the fast offense of the Bobcats as they trailed 11-8 after five minutes of play. The Bobcats did well rebounding and kept the scoring alive before Rodney Graves made a great move on a layup. Graves came back down the court with a big block that turned into another layup for the Mavs. Daunte Wilcott and McGill scored again while a three from Graves tied the score at 23 with five minutes left in the first half. The rebounding for the Bobcats paid off as they would go on to score seven straight points. Medaille would score with one more layup as the Bobcats led 32-27 at the half. After the break, the teams continued to battle back and forth. With 2:07 left to play, the Bobcats took the lead, 59-58. Graves drove hard to the basket and scored with one minute left in the game. The Mavs had a 60-59 lead but needed to make a play on defense. McGill stepped up with a steal and charged down the court to score a layup with 23 seconds left to play. The Bobcats would go on to score one more layup, but clutch free-throw shooting from Jaqwan Washington sealed a 64-61 Maverick win. McGill led the Mavs with 22 points going 9-for-13 from the field with two steals and a block. Graves finished with 14 points while adding a team-high six rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Washington grabbed ten points going 4-for-4 at the line and added a steal. Forward Reggie Priah led the way for the Bobcats with a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds.