HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The Hilbert College men's basketball team won their third straight game tonight and remained the only undefeated team in league standings after their 73-56 non-conference win over Houghton College. Three Hawks reached double figures scoring, led by junior Trevor Stark's 17 points dropping the Highlanders to 0-3 in their home opener.

Freshman Jalen Smith finished with a career high 16 points, sinking 8-of-9 free throws, and Jerame Owens added 14 points and shared game-high rebounding honors with nine boards.

Senior guard CJ Hodge led the Hawks again with five assists while tossing in nine points (one three pointer and the rest from the charity stripe) and Xavier Major hustled to three of the Hawks six team steals.

Leading the way for Houghton was sophomore Brandon Camacho who poured in a career-high 20 points and pulled down six rebounds on the night.

Both teams traded buckets early on, but the Hawks gained the edge as the half progressed. Jalen Smith's 4-point play capped the 11-0 Hilbert run to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 17-8 lead at 12:49. The Highlanders pulled within four before Hilbert scored six-straight to stretch the lead to 23-13 again. Ryan Brewster knocked down a bucket in the paint and canned the following free throw just before Paul Rath drained a three-point shot at 7:14. A short run by Houghton cut the half-time deficit to 30-24.

Neither team shot well in the opening 20 minutes, with each converting just 32 percent of their field goal attempts. Houghton made the most of the missed shots, holding a 25-15 rebounding edge at the break, including 11 on the offensive end.

The second half continued to be a see-saw affair, but the Hawks again were the first to swing the momentum in their favor. With their lead at six (43-37) at the 13:00 mark, Hilbert tore a 16-3 run over the next five minutes to push the lead back to 18. Smith opened the scoring by sinking all three foul shots and finished the run with a triple, two from the charity stripe and a short jumper.

Trevor Stark and Jerame Owens found the bottom of the net most often in the final minutes of the game before the Houghton began to foul Hilbert in the double-bonus. The Hawks closed the game making 10 of the 14 at the line.

This marked the first game where Hilbert shot below 40-pecent from the floor, but also the first game where they shot over 70-percent from the foul line.

Hilbert (3-0) is back in action on the road at Elmira College Saturday, Nov. 23 at 3pm. Watch the game live here and follow live stats here.