PITTSBURGH, PA -- The Redhawks earned their eighth straight victory after cruising to a 81-66 victory over Hilbert on Saturday. La Roche improves to 8-1 on the season and a perfect 5-0 in conference. They play in the prestigious Great Lakes Invitational on Tuesday and Wednesday, taking on Hope and Calvin.
Austin Hannes opened the scoring with a pair of threes. Ryan Norkus followed with a pair of layups but Hilbert built a 16-10 lead six minutes in.
Hannes buried a three at the end of the shot clock to cut it back to three points. RayQuan Phifer followed with a bucket and Tyler Frederick gave the Redhawks the lead with a block and three at the other end.
La Roche switched up their defense and held Hilbert to just one field goal over the next five minutes. A Kennedy Smith finger roll made it a 25-23 game with nine minutes left. Zach Gould followed with a three ball for a five point lead.
The Redhawks used the three to start pull away. Hannes and Ryan Norkus each hit one in the final three minutes, but Hilbert got within four by the half. La Roche dominated the boards in the first half.
Hilbert tied it at the 18:32 mark but Norkus hit a contested three to put the Redhawks back up. Frederick brought down the house, slamming down a missed Redhawk jump shot. Norkus followed with a three for an 8-0 run.
Norkus began feeling it down low, turning two misses into points. La Roche continued to battle and forced Hilbert to call a timeout with eight minutes left. The Redhawks came out of the timeout and Frederick forced a turnover into a Hannes fast break layup.
Gould converted a three point play with 1:45 left. Frederick drew a charge on the opposite end and the Redhawks cruised to victory.
Norkus was excellent, finishing with a career-high 22 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
Frederick finished just a point shy of a double-double. He pulled down 14 boards including 7 on the offensive glass.
Hannes (16 points, 4 three-pointers), Phifer (14 points), and Gould (13 points) each finished in double figures.
La Roche finished with 11 three-pointers to Hilbert's one.