HAMBURG, N.Y. -  Penn State Altoona established the pace of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference game this afternoon as they sprinted to an 82-66 road win at Hilbert College in men's basketball.

The Lions built a 24-6 advantage in fastbreak points putting an exclamation point on their No. 1 ranking in league standings after earning their sixth consecutive victory today.

THE BASICS              

• Final Score: Penn State Altoona 82 |  Hilbert 66
• Location: Hafner Recreation Center | Hamburg, NY
• Records: I  Lions 18-5, 13-2 AMCC | Hawks  9-14, 5-9 AMCC 

HIGHLIGHTS
 

• Zach Miller and Jahmel Demery (team-high three steals) led the Hawks with 10 points each in 16 minutes off the bench for the Hawks.
• Nevada Eldridge added 11 rebounds (7 points) and Eric Jackson pulled down nine rebounds (7 points) and led with four assists in defeat.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 

• Neither team saw one player take over the game in the first twenty minutes.  Both teams shared the ball with their high scorer netting only six points in the 32-27 score.
• The Lions built an 8-2 lead early, but the Hawks rallied back to a 12-10 score after Demery and Shawn Gashi tossed in back-to-back buckets at 12:10.
• Altoona sprinted to a 12-point lead (28-16) just six minutes later only to survive a 7-0 Hilbert run at the end of the opening session.  Jackson went 1-for-2 at the line before he scored in the paint.  Miller was perfect from the line and Powell hit a jumper in the paint to pull Hilbert closer 32-27.
• Altoona, after forcing the action in transition, found themselves setting up in quarter court or scoring from the foul line at the start of the second half.  The speed of play slowed, but the Hawks were unable to keep up on the score board.
• The Lions slowly crawled to a double-digit lead at 17:03 and maintained that margin the rest of the way.

 
GAME NOTES
 

• 10 players from Hilbert saw 11+ minutes of court time today.   Elijah Powell (1-1), Taghi Jalilov (1-1) , Noah Fox (1-2),  Jon Evans (4-7), Zach Miller (2-3), and Jahmel Demery (5-6) were the only Hawks to connect in better than 50-percent shooting from the field.
• Altoona, after sprinting the first 20 minutes of the game with a 36% rate of success from the floor, slowed the pace in the second half and improved their percentage (51.7%).
• The Hawks struggled from the field (28.9%) in the first half and improved to 36.7% but never recovered in the final 20 minutes.
• Altoona outscored the Hawks 44 to 24 in the paint as they continuously beat Hilbert to the rim off the bounce.  

WHAT'S NEXT

Hilbert continues to battle for a post-season play-off spot.  They are aiming for the sixth seed as they prepare for the final two league games of the season.  The Hawks travel to Pitt-Bradford (4-10)  February 16 before they complete the regular season schedule on Senior Day against Mount Aloysius (2-12) next Saturday, February 19.