HAMBURG, N.Y. – For the third consecutive season, the Hilbert College men's basketball team will be fighting for the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference's automatic bid to the Big Dance.

The #1 Hawks (22-4) captured a well-played, hard-fought 80-75 victory over #5 Pitt-Bradford this afternoon and will face #3 Pitt-Greensburg, who outlasted #2 Penn State Behrend 67-64 in overtime.   The Bobcats closed their regular season last Saturday with a 77-72 victory over the Lions for a 2-game sweep in just seven days.

Jerame Owens posted 21 points to lead Hilbert in the scoring column. Jalen Smith knocked down 16 points and both Sean Weisansal andRyan Bradt tossed in 10. 

Kirkland Ottey did a fantastic defensive job containing Bradford's Eric Matheson, often taking away his penetration to the hoop and beating him to the spot to cut off lanes.   Matteson finished with 18 points, collecting 8 at the foul line while his big man-inside, Even Greening led all scorers and rebounders with 22 and 11.

Hilbert went 14-15 from the foul line and sank 8-of-16 long balls to defeat the Panthers all three games this season.  The Hawks continue to lead the league in field goal percentage as they hit 50.9% of their shots from the floor. 

Bradford was aggressive on the glass, out-rebounding the hosts 34-27 and picked-up 11 offensive boards. 

But Hawks controlled the style of play and committed a season-low eight turnovers and dished for their second highest assist-number this year (22).

Hilbert's three powerful forwards put the Hawks up 8-7 before Smith unleased his first 3-pointer at 14:37.  That four-point lead lasted less than 60-seconds as Bradford responded with their own long-ball and a pair of lay-ins to grab a 14-11 advantage. 

Owens scored an old-fashioned 3-point play to knot the game for the second time in less than nine-minutes of action.

Malique McCoy and Xavier Major extended the lead back to five and the Hawks pretty much rode that to the break.  Bradford cut the difference to three-points one time while Hilbert jumped out to their largest lead of nine on two occasions before settling in for a 43-36 half time score.

David Arlaud come off the bench and was perfect from the floor finishing at the rim or hitting the short jumpers to lift Hilbert with six points.

Smith hit another long distance shot at 17:56 in the second half for a 48-38 lead, but the Panthers battled back; it was a ten-minute run where they out-scored the Hawks 26-15.  Manny Welch knocked in eight points to bring the visitors to 63-61 and Matheson followed with a 3-point shot at 7:58 regaining their lead for the first time in the second half.

Hilbert grinded their gears up another level and jumped back on top 71-64 with back-to-back shots from downtown by Smith and Weisansal.  Owens took a Smith feed to the rim for the extra two-points.

A pair of empty Hilbert possessions turned into a 4-0 Panther run and the crowd got really involved down the stretch.

Owens hit in paint again and Smith scored a pair of free throws which stretched Hilbert's lead back to seven points. 

Greening grabbed another defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast to bring Bradford back 75-70.  

The game ended with Owens and Ottey combining for all four made freebies and Bradt converting a dish down low from Owens for two more.

The pace of the night-cap game was in Penn State Behrend's favor.  The Lions went to the locker room ahead, 27-21 while holding Greensburg to 32% shooting from the floor as they hit just one of seven shots from beyond the arc.

The Bobcats burned the nets in the second half and went on a 16-11 run forcing Behrend to call their first timeout in the game at 9:59.  Mike Connelly from Greensburg was a one-man show exploding for 11 of the Bobcats 16 points.

Behrend jumped back on top and never relinquished the lead until Jerell Figueroa calmly sank both free throws with four-seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

Matt Colploys went 1-2 at the foul line to start the extra session and that 56-55 score was the last time the Lions led.  Greensburg's Connelly and Rocco Contristano pushed the Bobcats up by four and they held on for the 67-64 victory.

Connelly led with 21 points hitting 10-of-16 shots and Figueroa chipped in 19 points as Contristano added 18.

Behrend was led by freshman Andy Niland who collected 22 points of 7-10 shooting (4-6 from deep) and Malquan Pullium tossed in 11 points.  Zane Hackett was held to just eight points but he earned game-high rebounding honors with 13 boards.

With the Hilbert win, the 2015-16 Hawks have established a new program Win Record as they improved to 22-4 overall.  This marks their third time vying for the AMCC crown and the league's automatic bid.  Previously, Hilbert challenged Penn State Behrend and Medaille College as both games were played in Erie, Pa. 

Tomorrow, the Hawks can win-it-all, on their home court.