ERIE, Pa – After storming out of the gate and taking a big lead early in the game, the Hilbert College men's basketball team faded late and dropped an 87-58 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference game at Penn State Behrend (20-4, 14-3).  With the loss, the Hawks fell to second place in the AMCC heading in the final weekend of the regular season schedule.

Jerame Owens opened the game shooting a perfect five from the floor to lead the Hawks at half time with 11 points, but his touches in the second half remained the same. The sophomore forward posted 18 points and reached for seven rebounds (team-high four assists) as the only Hawk to hit double figures scoring and grab more than three boards.

Behrend's Zane Hackett, coming off the bench, matched Owens' offensive punch with 18 points and led all players with 11 rebounds.   Three other Lions gathered in double figures in the scoring column.

Both teams shot well in the first half with Behrend holding a slight edge (51.5% to 47.4%), but the Lions turned it up in the second period burning the home nets 64.3% vs. Hilbert's 38.5%.  Hilbert gave up five offensive rebounds in the second half which further hurt since there were only 10 missed shots by the host team.

At 16:04, Hilbert held a 12-3 lead with credit going to Owens (7), CJ Hodge (2) and Trevor Stark (3).  Then it became the Sean Weisansal show as he personally took the Hawks to the next level, hitting three of four foul shots and a long bomb at 12:08 (18-10).   Behrend went on a mini 7- 2 which was silenced when Jalen Smith stepped to the line and calmly sank three straight free throws 90 seconds later (23-17).  Hilbert went cold from the floor hitting only two lay-ups (Owens) and three free throws (Hodge) to close out the half as Behrend rode a 25-7 run to the break.

Nick Nadeau opened the second stanza with two steals that lead to an Owens bucket at 18:24 which cut the spread to 10 points.  That was the closest the Hawks would get.  Behrend was credited with only two jump shots the rest of the half as all their scores were lay-ups, three-point shots or free throws.  Behrend's bench outscored the Hawks (41-24) and the Lions pounded the ball inside the paint (52 points).

While Hilbert scored 23 points in the first nine minutes and 26 seconds of the contest, Behrend held the Hawks to just 35 points through the final 30:34.

Trevor Stark added nine points and Sean Weisansal chipped in eight points for Hilbert (19-5, 13-4).

Hilbert closes out their regular season this weekend at La Roche College (13-11, 9-8) February 22 with their tip scheduled for 2pm.  

With so many scenarios still to play-out with the last day of competition, it is easiest to say that Hilbert is battling for the second seed (with a win over La Roche) and could fall to third place with a loss, paired with the outcome of other games.

The AMCC play-offs begin Tuesday, February 25^th with #3 seed hosting #6 and #4 seed hosting #5. The first and second seeded teams earned byes and will meet the winners of the First Round games at Penn State Behrend, who will host the Championship Weekend February 28 and March 1.