McCANDLESS, Pa. - La Roche men's basketball will compete in their fourth straight AMCC semi-final Friday afternoon against Penn St. Altoona at the Kerr Fitness Center. The Redhawks have advanced to the title game in all three of the previous seasons. LRU defeated PSA in both regular season meetings by an average margin of victory of 24.5 points. Tip-off for tomorrow's game is set for noon.

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La Roche (OVR: 19-6, AMCC: 19-1)

Post Season History

• The Redhawks fell in the AMCC Championship last season on their home court to Penn St. Behrend, 67-65. The Lions hit two free throws with less than 20 seconds left to win the game.
• LRU finished the regular season with the most conference wins in program history (19). In the last three season, La Roche is a combined 53-3 in AMCC regular season play.
• The red and white are 1-2 in conference title games over the last three seasons. The last time they cut down the nets was in 2018 when they defeated Penn St. Behrend at the Kerr, 77-74.

News and Notes

• On Monday (2/24), the NCAA announced revised regional rankings that placed La Roche in the ninth spot of the Great Lakes Region, their first nod of the season.
• The Redhawks led the league in scoring in conference play this season, putting up an average of 84.0 points per game. LRU also shot an efficient 48.4% from the field (2nd in AMCC) and 37.2% from three-point range (2nd in AMCC) in those games.
• Tyler Frederick has led the league in scoring (19.5 PPG) and rebounding (11.6) for the majority of the season. He was named the AMCC Player of the Week three times and was the first Redhawk since 2015 to receive the USBWA National Player of the Week (1/7) honor. His 15 double-doubles this season rank 10th in D-III. Frederick has posted at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in eight games this season.
• Kennedy Smith is second on the team in scoring (16.2 PPG) and rebounding (6.5 RPG). He ranks 5th in AMCC and first on the team with 3.4 assists per game. Smith was dubbed the AMCC Player of the Week earlier this season after putting up a career-high 32 points on Geneva.
• Darius Lawrence has been one of the most clutch players in the conference. Lawrence has hit two go-ahead game winning buckets against no. 2 seed Pitt Greensburg and no. 3 seed Penn St. Behrend. He averages 14.3 points per game, 3.3 assists per game (7th in AMCC) and has an act for getting to the free throw line and knocking down shots. His 4.7 made free throws per game ranks 2nd in AMCC and 81.2% free throw percentage ranks 7th.
• Austin Hannes is one of the most dangerous shooters from beyond the arc in the AMCC. Hannes has drained 2.5 treys per game this season (3rd in AMCC) while shooting 42% from beyond the arc (6th in AMCC). He averages 13.4 points per game and 2.6 assists per game. Hannes has hit three or more triples in 11 games this season and made a season-high six three's in a win against Hilbert on January 18th.
• Luke McDonough is the only Redhawk to start all 25 games. McDonough has been a solid contributor this season, averaging 4.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks (4th in AMCC).
• Off the bench, Desmond Ross, Joe Pipilo and Jioni Smith have all gone for over 10+ points on multiple occasions this season. Ross and Pipilo are threats from deep while Smith is an excellent ball distributor with handles and can take it to the basket at will.
• Senior Darrell Barron has played five games since returning mid-season and has scored seven points on three occasions.

Penn St. Altoona (OVR: 16-10, AMCC: 11-9)

News and Notes

• Fourth-seeded Penn State Altoona men's basketball rolls into the AMCC Tournament semifinal after a hard-fought 81-73 victory over fifth seed Hilbert on Tuesday.
• The Lions get solid contributions from their four seniors, center Cameron Gardner-Nicholson (68.1% field goal percentage, 12.3 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game, 2.2 blocks per game), guard/forward Austin Krise (53.0% field goal percentage, 45.2% three-point field goal percentage), guard Trey Butterworth (3.0 assists per game), and forward Clevon Scott (1.1 blocks per game).
• Meanwhile, sophomore guards Andruw Harman and Jack Kusters are the Lions' leading scorers, ranking 16th and 17th in the AMCC with 14.5 points per game and 14.4 points per game, respectively.
• Harman is also second in the conference in steals (47), third in blocks (44), and fifth in rebounds per game (8.2), while Kusters is seventh in the league in field goals made (139) and three-point field goal percentage (41.3%). Fellow sophomore guard Robbie Hicks provides 11.9 points per game off the bench.
• As a team, Penn State Altoona leads the AMCC in rebounds per game (41.3), blocks per game (6.2), and turnovers forced per game (17.0), while also ranking second in steals per game (8.3) and third in assists per game (15.0).

Series History

• LRU is 14-2 vs Penn St. Altoona under HC Hermie Carmichael dating back to 2012-13 but the teams have never met in the postseason
• The Redhawks have won nine of their last ten meetings with the Lions
• Earlier this season, La Roche put up a season-high 113 points on PSA; A season-high seven Redhawks finished in double-digit figures led by Tyler Frederick who scored a game-hihg 22 points.