PITTSBURGH, PA -- The La Roche men's basketball team improved 7-5 and 4-1 in the AMCC after topping Mt. Aloysius College 69-57 on Wednesday evening. The Redhawks sit in a three-way tie for second place in the AMCC.

RayQuan Phifer and Arnes Bajgora were excellent, each picking up double-doubles. Phifer finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Bajgora had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Trell Thomas had 15 points for his seventh straight double figure game.

The difference came on the boards where the Redhawks outrebounded Mt. Aloysius 47-25 and 26-9 on the offensive end. 

Mt. Aloysius forced La Roche to play their pace in the game's opening minutes. They used a majority of the shot clock and did not let the Redhawks get out and run. The Mounties hung around and led 14-12 before a La Roche run opened things up.

The Redhawks turned a two point deficit into a 26-14 lead in just over four minutes. La Roche forced the Mounties into tough shots and dominated the offensive glass. Phifer, Bajgora and Thomas each scored four points over the course of the run.

Mt. Aloysius closed the gap and La Roche entered halftime with a 34-28 lead. Phifer went into the lockerroom with 10 points and 8 rebounds while Bajgora pulled down 10 boards.

The Mounties scored the first basket of the second half but La Roche answered with a 14-0 run to break things open. Phifer sparked the run with a tip-in. The Redhawks then got hot from distance with Thomas draining a pair of threes and Bajgora and Zach Gould hitting threes.

It looked like the Redhawks would run away with things but two straight Mountie threes brought it back to eleven. Gould and Darrell Barron responded with their own threes and La Roche maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.

Phifer finished the second half with 8 points.

La Roche will host Penn State Altoona on Saturday at 2pm.