BUFFALO, N.Y.   – After battling back and building a six point lead mid-way through the second half, the Hilbert College men's basketball team hit a cold spell late in the game and fell (72-67) at Medaille College in an empty Sullivan Center tonight.
 
The Mavericks took the first game of the AMCC series tonight with the early January game on the books for a February 7th make-up game in Hamburg.

THE BASICS              

• Final Score: Medaille 72  |  Hilbert 67
• Location: Sullivan Center  | Buffalo, NY
• Records: I  Mavs 8-9, 5-4  AMCC | Hawks 6-12. 2-7 AMCC 

HIGHLIGHTS
 

• Shawn Gashi produced career-high stats tonight dressed in the royal and white.  He poured in 30 points, shooting 59% from the field (10-17), 50% from the 3-point line and went 8-for-9 at the foul line. He was credited with five steals in 30 minutes of court time.
• Eric Jackson added 15 points, his ninth game this season hitting double digits.  Jahmel Demery returned to action and gave 23-minutes of  consistency, scoring 11 points (5-of-7 from the field) and pulled down five rebounds (4 offensive).

HOW IT HAPPENED
 

• The Hawks spotted the hosts nine points before Shawn Gashi 's 3-point play at 17:35 put Hilbert on the scoreboard in an empty Sullivan Center.
• Medaille continued to run patterns and built a 12-point spread (23-11) at 9:23.
• Edward Perez and Eric Jackson sliced the margin to eight points and Scott Warner's make at the charity stripe made it a 23-16 game two minutes later.
• Both teams traded buckets but when Hilbert trailed 30-22, they put together a run. Jon Evans was perfect at the foul line, Demery finished an "And 1" play and established a 3-point game.
• Medaille connected on back-to-back deep hits before Gashi drilled his own 3-pointer with 0:02 on the clock, lifting Hilbert before intermission.
• Gashi connected beyond the arc at the start of the second half but the Mavs continued to hold the lead on the score board (36-33).
• Quran Briggs and Gashi's efforts from the floor knotted the game 37-37 and Eric Jackson's free throw gave the Hawks their first lead in the second half (38-37).
• Demery created space in the lane, and Jackson's 3-point play lifted Hilbert further (44-39).
• The Hawks continued to stretch their lead after Briggs scored once at the foul line and Jackson hit from the floor (47-41).
• Medaille then made a run, forced a 47-all score half way through the second half.
• A Hilbert bucket, plus a Medaille 3-point make tilted the score back towards the hosts who added to it after three Hilbert turnovers (49-54).
• Jackson scored his 15th point of the night and pulled Hilbert close (54-51) before Quran Briggs knotted the game at 54-all off his old fashioned 3-point play with five and a half minutes left in regulation.
• Medaille closed the game on an 18-13 run, with Gashi scoring all Hilbert points.

GAME NOTES

• Hilbert finished the game hitting .407-percent from the field.  They cooled in the second half but scored the same number of buckets.  The Hawks committed 18 turnovers for the game, yet maintained control in the second half, limiting their give-a-ways to just six.
• The Hawks outscored the Mavs 42-34 in the paint, but the hosts connected on six more 3-point shots than Hilbert then made the same amount of shots from the field and from the foul line in the second half.

WHAT'S NEXT

The men's basketball team returns to action this weekend when they travel to Pittsburgh for their rematch against the AMCC Preseason favorites La Roche University January 29 at 4pm.