HAMBURG, N.Y. – Edward Perez found his shooting touch tonight, but the Hilbert men's basketball team slipped to Pitt.-Bradford 92-70 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play.

THE BASICS

• Final Score:  Pitt.-Bradford 92   I  Hilbert 70
• Location: Hafner Recreation Center  I Hamburg, NY
• Records:  Panthers 8-7, 3-3 AMCC   I  Hawks 5-10, 1-5 AMCC

HIGHLIGHTS

• Edward Perez continues to shine for the Hawks this season.  The 6-4 forward led Hilbert with 23 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.  He connected on most of his 11 buckets near the rim but hit his first career 3-pointer to open his scoring early in the opening period.
• Jahmel Demery came off the bench and lifted the Hawks with 10 points, nine rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot in 17 minutes.  Eric Jackson (8 points) led the hosts with five assists and Shaheem Ellis added 12 points, four assists and a team-best two steals.

HOW IT HAPPENED
 

• The first half of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference game was played at a fast pace.  Both teams came to play tonight and they battled through multiple short bursts in the first 15-minutes of play.
• The Panthers scored off the opening tip and built a five-point lead less than three minutes into the game.
• Eric Jackson pulled the Hawks within two points, Shaheem Ellis and Elijah Powell kept it a one-point game before Perez knocked down his first three of the season at 15:26 which gave Hilbert their first lead in the game (13-11).
• Bradford switched to a match-up zone defensively. Demery and Scott Warner's easy scores in the lane kept the Hawks on top until Bradford drilled a deep shot at 11:51.
• Demery, Jackson and Perez shifted the advantage back towards the Hawks working the ball inside and then dumping to the low block often.
• Both teams traded hoops until the Panthers strung together seven unanswered points and took a 43-37 lead to the locker room after scoring a short jumper with one-second on the clock.
• Warner opened the scoring for Hilbert in the second half and Ellis manufactured a 3-pointer.  The Hawks defended well on their next trip down the floor, earned a steal defensively and finished with a fast break Perez layup off Warner's steal at 17:38.  That 46-44 score was as close as the Hawks would get.
• Bradford continued to play zone and extended their coverage area up top which opened the foul line offensively.  Demery, Perez and two 3-pointers (Wendell Abellard and Ellis) got the Hawks back in the game with 11:37 remaining (59-54).
• The Hawks kept the game within reach, just a score and a stop away, but when the Panthers went on a 15-2 run, they established control (76-56) and held on for the win.

GAME NOTES

• Play analysis stats convey a close game, but the Hawks went cold at times from the floor and didn't get the foul line with success by the final horn.
• Hilbert shot 45-percent from the field in the first half and cooled to 35-percent in the second period.  The Hawks made only five of twenty 3-point attempts and went 3-of-7 from the foul line; two of those makes came after a free trip to the line after a technical foul called against the Panthers.
• Bradford closed the game hitting 50-percent of their field goal attempts inside the arc as well as outside the line (10-for-20).  They padded the score board with 17 (of 31) points earned at the charity stripe as well.
• There was a lot of action at the rim, driving in for two in the paint, fighting for a blocked shot as a defender or battling for rebounds which most times went to the player who timed their jump as the ball bounced off the rim.  The Panthers held a slight edge (48-41) in total rebounds while both teams scrapped for 17/18 offensive rebounds.

 
UP NEXT

Hilbert returns to action this weekend with a road game at Mt. Aloysius College Saturday, January 15.