McCANDLESS, Pa. - La Roche men's basketball improved to 2-0 at home earlier this afternoon after defeating AMCC opponent, Pitt Bradford, convincingly at the Kerr earlier today by a final score of 95-60. The Redhawks defense was able to hold the Panthers to just 60 points on 37% shooting from the field, both season-lows for Bradford. As notated by head coach Hermie Carmichael on twitter, LRU did an excellent job moving the ball and playing un-selfish basketball, posting a season-high 23 assists on 35 baskets. Fittingly, La Roche had a season-low in turnovers with only 9 while forcing Bradford to commit 21. La Roche is now 7-1 against Bradford in their last eight meetings.
Final: La Roche: 95, Pitt Bradford: 60
Records: La Roche (2-5, AMCC: 2-0), Pitt Bradford (1-5, AMCC: 0-2)
How it Happened
The Redhawks started the game on a 16-4 run and never looked back. Junior guard Austin Hannes knocked down the first two buckets for LRU, both were three-pointers. Hannes would finish the game with a season high five three-pointers on only eight attempts (63%).
Senior guard Kennedy Smith had a team-high 10 points after 20 minutes of action. The Redhawks headed into halftime ahead 41-27.
LRU carried their offensive momentum into the second half, starting on a 32-12 run. Off the bench, Senior guard Torry Hawkins knocked down 3-3 three-pointers in only four minutes during the Redhawks run.
With seven minutes left in the contest, Senior forward Luke McDonough put La Roche up by 38, their largest lead of the game, off an offensive put-back.
The Redhawks would go on to win by 35 points. In two games against the conference this season, LRU has won by an average margin of victory of 32 points.
Inside the Box Score
Junior forward Tyler Frederick finished with a game-high 19 points on 5-9 FG and 7-9 FT. Frederick is one of only two players in the AMCC to average a double-double thus far. Tyler currently ranks in the top 5 in the conference in both scoring (18.8 PPG, 4th) and rebounding (10.6 RPG, 2nd).
A season-high six different Redhawks finished with 10+ points (Frederick: 19, Hannes: 17, Smith: 14, Lawrence: 11, McDonough: 11, Hawkins: 11). The totals were career-highs for McDonough and Hawkins. McDonough also had a game-high three blocks.
As a unit, the Redhawks posted a season-high 23 assists. Prior to today's game, LRU was averaging 12.2 assists per game.
Despite only dressing eight total players, La Roche's bench put up 23 points. Up and coming Freshman guard, Jioni Smith, had an excellent all-around performance posting 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in only 22 minutes of action.
NEXT UP: The men's basketball team gets a week off for final exams before traveling up to Buffalo, NY to take on conference opponent, Medaille, next Saturday, December 14th beginning at 2:00 p.m.
