Hamburg, N.Y. – The Hilbert men's basketball team held off a late game surge from Chatham to punch their ticket to the championship game of the Hawks Against Hunger Tip-Off Tournament for the eighth time in the past nine years with an 83-78 victory.
  
THE BASICS

• Final Score: Hilbert 83 Chatham 78
• Location: Hafner Recreation Center, Hilbert College 8pm
• Records: Hilbert 2-0 (0-0 AMCC) | Chatham 1-2 (0-0 PAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hawks opened up the game strong as they jumped out to an early 10-3 lead over the first five minutes of action with all five field goals coming from the paint.
• The Cougars fought back, taking a 25-22 lead with 4:52 to go in the first half after a Stefan Rosich three-pointer. However, over the final 4:52 of action in the first half it was all Hilbert, as the Hawks went on a 16-4 run over that span to head into the intermission with a 38-29 lead. 
• The Hawks responded over the next three and a half minutes of action as freshman Jon Evans scored a pair of buckets in the paint to help the Hawks to a 7-2 run to close the gap to 10-7.
• Hilbert opened the second half looking to push the ball into the paint where they had early success, resulting in early buckets to take a commanding 51-39 advantage with 14:44 remaining on the clock.
• Chatham's offense came alive as they swung the momentum in their favor, scoring the next seven points, cutting their deficit to just five points with 12:30 left in the game.
• The Hawks used a balanced scoring attack and effective ball movement to widen the lead back to double digits with just 2:42 to go.
• The Cougars showed grit and tenacity over the next few possessions, clawing their way back to make it a one possession game with under a minute to go, but the Hawks buckled down defensively and senior Hunter Martineau hit numerous key free throws in the final seconds to secure the five point victory and a spot in the championship game.
• Senior Masia Phillips led the Hawks scoring with 15 points, while Martineau led the royal and white in assists (9) and rebounds (8), finishing a lone assist and pair of rebounds from a triple double. Freshman Mayson Mathews had an outstanding game as well, securing a team-high five offensive rebounds and added a team-best three blocked shots on the defensive end.

GAME NOTES

• The Hawks had a balanced scoring attack throughout, with five players finishing in double figures.
• Hilbert hit 28 of 57 field goal attempts (49.1%), while draining 6 of 14 3-pointers (42.9%) and sunk 21 of 28 free throws, good for a 75% clip.
• Chatham finished the game going 44.6% from the floor, including 11 of 32 from 3-point range (34.4%). The Cougars had just 14 attempts from the charity stripe, connecting on 9 of them (64.3%)  
• The difference in the game was the Hawks bench, as they proved to have stronger depth throughout, outscoring the Cougars bench 37-22. Jon Evans and Ant Moynihan had major impacts off the bench, netting 14 and 12 respectively.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Hawks are back in action tomorrow as they move on to face St. John Fisher College (SJFC) in the championship game of the Hawks Against Hunger Tip-Off Tournament at 3pm. The Cardinals of SJFC defeated the Cazenovia Wildcats in the other first round matchup by a final of 98-81 to secure their spot in the title game.

Be sure to stay up-to-date on all your Hilbert Hawk scores and awards by following @HilbertAthletic on Twitter and by liking the "Hilbert College Athletics" Facebook page. Additionally, fans of the Hawks who have an Apple device can receive push notification from the Hilbert College Hawks iOS SIDEARM mobile App which can be found in the Apple Store and ITunes.