McCANDLESS, Pa. - La Roche men's basketball defeated Mt. Aloysius at the Kerr Wednesday evening, 73-57. Now 13-1 in conference play this season, LRU remains the top seed in the AMCC standings, holding a two game advantage over Pitt Greensburg (11-3). The Redhawks have not lost a regular season home game since December 6th, 2017. Since then, La Roche is an incredible 29-0 at the Kerr in regular season play.
Four different Redhawks finished within one point of one another. Kennedy Smith finished tied for a team-high 14 points, three rebounds, and two assists. Off the bench, Desmond Ross also scored a team-high 14 points and added four rebounds and an assist in only 23 minutes of action.
Tyler Frederick appeared all over the box score. Frederick picked up his conference-high 11th double-double of the season, recording 13 points, 15 rebounds, three steals, an assist and a season-high five blocks.
In his 100th career collegiate game at La Roche, Darius Lawrence extended his double-digit scoring streak to eight games, posting 13 points on an efficient 4 of 6 (67%) shooting. Lawrence added three rebounds and an assist.
Tonight's double-digit win is La Roche's fourth straight. During that span, the Redhawks have won by an average of 15 points.
Final: La Roche: 73, Mt. Aloysius: 57
Records: La Roche (13-6, AMCC: 13-1), Mt. Aloysius (9-9, AMCC: 6-7)
How it Happened
The teams exchanged buckets to start the contest before Tyler Frederick hit back-to-back shots to put the Redhawks up 8-4 five minutes into the contest. La Roche would continue to hold their slight edge over the Mounties over the next nine minutes of action, leading 30-24 with 6:25 still to play in the first.
Darius Lawrence, Kennedy Smith, and Desmond Ross then each hit a triple to produce a 9-0 Redhawks run while holding Mt Aloysius scoreless for over five minutes. The Mounties hit a late 3-PT at the end of the first to bring the score to 41-29 in favor of La Roche. Both teams shot over 50% from the field in the first half.
The Redhawks opened the second half on a 6-1 run to gain a 17-point lead in just over a minute and thirty seconds. Mt. Aloysius would then go on a 12-4 run over the next four minutes to bring the contest to within nine. La Roche regained the double-digit lead but the Mounties continued to hang around. At the 7:08 mark, MAC drained a three to bring the contest within eight points, but that is as close as they got. The Redhawks would increase the lead back up to as many as 17 points, eventually winning by a final score of 73-57.
Inside the Box Score
The Redhawks shot 57% (17-30) from the field in the first half of Wednesday's contest, outscoring the Mounties 41-29 through the first 20 minutes of action.
The Redhawks shot 8 of 28 (29%) from beyond the arc, snapping a four game streak of hitting at least 10 three-pointers.
Jioni Smith and Joe Pipilo contributed a combined 10 points, six boards and three assists off the bench.
La Roche once again won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding Mt. Aloysius 37-30.
LRU dished out 12 assists as a unit, their sixth straight game with at least 10 assists. Austin Hannes contributed a team-high four assists on the night.
Luke McDonough recorded two blocks, his second straight game with multiple blocks.
Carlos Palacio and Nate Christian of Mt. Aloysius combined for 32 of the Mounties 57 points and were the only players on the opposing team to finish in double-digit scoing figures.
NEXT UP: Men's basketball open's the month of February in Buffalo, NY this Saturday when they take on AMCC opponent D'Youville College. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.
