McCANDLESS, Pa. - After trailing 76-63 with only 9:09 to play, La Roche went on a 25-9 scoring run to defeat Hilbert College at the Kerr, 88-85. LRU shot 7 of 11 from the field during their run. Austin Hannes went on an 11-0 run himself when he drilled four straight shots (three of which were 3-PT) in a span of less than two minutes. Hannes scored 14 of his career-high 24 points in the second half of today's game while shooting a near perfect 6 of 7 from beyond the arc. The Redhawks improved to 9-1 in AMCC action after today's win.
Tyler Frederick picked up his conference-high 9th double-double of the season recording 24 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 9 of 14 (64%) from the field and 4 of 6 (66%) from the free throw line. Frederick added three steals and an assist to the box score while only committing one personal foul.
Darius Lawrence extended his double-digit scoring streak to four games scoring 18 points while shooting an efficient 5 of 9 from the field (56%) and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Lawrence also dished out a team-high six assists.
In his first career start, Freshman guard Joe Pipilo (Bridgeville, PA/Chartiers Valley) put up a season-high 11 points, eight of which he scored in the first half of today's contest.
When asked about the team's performance in the latter half of the second, Head Coach Hermie Carmichael said "I'm super proud of our focus and mental toughness down the stretch. We kept getting down and battling back and when we got down double digits, I wasn't sure we had enough gas left to make our run. The other night at Franciscan, we played scared down the stretch and today we had a complete 180 degree turn and we played with so much confidence. We made tough stops, got tough rebounds and made clutch shots. On the top of the erase board today I wrote "How Will We Respond". They rose to the occasion!"
Final: La Roche: 88, Hilbert: 85
Records: La Roche (9-6, AMCC: 9-1), Hilbert (10-5, AMCC: 6-4)
How it Happened
The Redhawks jumped out to 5-0 lead to start today's contest after back-to-back buckets from Hannes and Pipilo. The Hawks wouldn't let La Roche's quick start rattle them and tied the game at 11 points a piece four minutes in. Hilbert would then go on a 10-3 run to go up by seven with 12:38 left in the first half. The Redhawks would answer with a 9-1 run of their own to take the lead 23-22 halfway through the first.
Then, the Hawks went on 8-0 run to regain the lead. The teams would continue to play a tight game through the remainder of the first half, Hilbert leading 46-43 after the first twenty minutes of action.
At the start of the second half, the teams continued to play a close game, exchanging the leads nearly every possession. At the 12:02 mark, the Hawks led by a slim two point margin before erupting for a 13-2 run to go up 76-63 just past the halfway mark of the second.
Seemingly down and out, La Roche refused to go away. The Redhawks quickly climbed their way back into the contest after Austin Hannes capped off a 17-4 run by hitting his sixth triple of the game to tie things up 80-80 with 5:13 still to play. Over the next three minutes, Darius Lawrence would score four points to keep La Roche in the game, trailing by one with 1:57 to go.
After two missed three-pointers by the Hawks, Desmond Ross came down with a big defensive rebound and took the ball coast-to-coast, floating the ball over the defender and laying it perfectly off the glass to score the go-ahead bucket and put La Roche up 86-85 with 21.6 seconds remaining. Tyler Frederick would seal the deal with two free throws as the Redhawks went on to win, 88-85.
Inside the Box Score
After shooting under 45% from the field and 35% from three-point range their last four games, La Roche shot an efficient 32 of 63 (51%) from the floor and 13 of 32 (41%) from beyond the arc. The Redhawks 13 triples ties a season-high.
Entering today, Austin Hannes had shot 3 of 16 (19%) from the field and 2 of 9 (22%) from three point range his last two games against Franciscan and Penn St. Behrend. Today, the veteran guard shot 9 of 15 (60%) from the floor and a near perfect 6 of 7 (86%) from beyond the arc. Assistant coach Lorenzo Archer told Hannes prior to today's contest "shooter's shoot". Seems Austin would agree.
The Redhawks played solid in transition, scoring 17 fast-break points while holding Hilbert to only four.
Desmond Ross was productive off the bench, finishing with 7 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
La Roche committed a season-low 8 turnovers in today's contest.
Lazar Jovanovich from Hilbert scored a game-high 29 points off the bench, shooting 7 of 11 from three-point range.
NEXT UP: Men's basketball will rest up tomorrow before traveling to Pitt Bradford Monday, January 20th to take on the last place Panthers. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.
