BUFFALO, NY The La Roche Men's basketball team took the win against D'Youville behind 19 offensive rebounds for their sixth straight win. La Roche improves to a 4-0 in AMCC conference play and 6-1 overall.
In the AMCC Game of the Week. The defending champion Redhawks were on the road at D'Youville who were looking to build on a successful early start to their season. Both teams came out hard and ready to play. The score went back and both teams held the lead for periods in the first half. The home team had their largest lead of the game at 14-19 (11:10) when a Darius Lawrence three pointer started the Redhawk response.
A Kennedy Smith defensive rebound, transition drive, and lay up tied the game at 22-22. Tyler Frederick and Darrell Barron made jump shots and layups which gave the Redhawks their largest lead at 31-24 (3:24). La Roche went into halftime still with the lead 44-40.
The second half remained close as both teams competed for the win. The lead swung back and forth in the first fifteen minutes of the half with neither team leading by more than five. With five minutes left in the game the offensive glass secured the win for La Roche. Frederick finished two transition buckets off assists by freshmen Shawn Dunnings. The Redhawks would get their hands on six extra possesions as they went and got the basketball to protect the victory 82-70.
La Roche won the rebound battle 52-33. Substandard shooting was supported by strong forward play as Frederick finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds, Ryan Norkus has 10 points and 8 rebounds, and Dunnings had 9 points and 6 rebounds. Simeon Heard led the way for D'Youville with 18 points.
La Roche will use the conference bye week to play non conference opponent Hiram College on the road on Wednesday, December 12th at 7pm. They will return to AMCC Conference play in a rematch of last year's AMCC semifinals against Hilbert on December 15th at 4pm.