PITTSBURGH, PA - La Roche men's basketball team takes a tough loss at home, after getting into foul trouble early in the final period.

The Redhawks started off strong in the first half. The intensity on the court could be felt from everyone in the building, there were 15 lead changes during the 40 minutes of play. At half, La Roche was up by four points. They continued to push and kept the contest within one to two points,until the team got into foul trouble, and the bonus forced them to lose some of their hard earned ground. 

Devon Darrell, the junior, from Lockport, NY had his highest scoring game of the season. He netted 28 points; shooting 65 percent from field goal range. He averages 13.6 points per game, has stated every game played this season, and averages the most minutes per game with 30. 

The hot hand with three point shots tonight was Desmond Ross. Ross started his first game since January 10th at Carnegie Mellon. He dropped 27 points in tonight's contest, shooting 54 percent from the three point range, six of them being scored in the first half. Ross also shot 47 percent from the field goal range. 

The La Roche defense forced 19 turnovers (four more than the LRU offense were forced into) from the solid Altoona team, and the Redhawks were able to use those turnovers to their advantage and created 19 points in scoring opportunities. 

To wrap up the double digit club for the men's basketball team is Joe Pipilo, who had 10 points in tonight's matchup, and went 100 percent from the free throw line. 

The Redhawks take some time off to recharge, and they are back to work on February 9th in an away conference matchup against Mount Aloysius.