HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference 2022 Men's Basketball Tournament opens this week and the Hilbert Hawks are making their tenth postseason appearance over the last 11 years.

Coach Rob deGrandpre and his staff have guided the 2021-22 Hawks to a No. 6 seed in the 6-team field vying for the league's automatic bid to the Division III NCAA National Tournament.  

Hilbert (7-9 AMCC) will travel to No. 3 La Roche (11-5) in an AMCC First Round play-off game in Pittsburgh while No. 4 Medaille (9-7) will host No. 5 Pitt-Greensburg (8-8) in North Buffalo February 22nd.

Fans, please remember that, per AMCC policy, all spectators must wear a well-fitted mask which always covers both the nose and mouth during the contest.

Penn State Behrend, as the No. 1 seed, earned the right to host the AMCC Final Four Weekend, February 25th and 26th in Erie, Pa. The Lions (13-3) join No. 2 Penn State Altoona (13-3) with a first-round bye tomorrow night and head directly to the semifinal games Friday night.

The winner of the Medaille/Greensburg game (4/5) will battle Behrend February 25th at 6pm in the Junker Center.  The winner of the La Roche/Hilbert (3/6) game will square-off against Penn State Altoona in the semifinal nightcap game at 8:30 pm.

The AMCC Champion will be crowned Saturday, February 26th where the two victors from Friday night advance to the 3:00 pm title game.

Game Notes:

• Hilbert is currently riding a two-game win streak while the Redhawks enter tomorrow night's game on a five-game win streak.
• Hilbert showed a ton of heart this past week when they battled back from half-time deficits to earn hard-fought victories.  The Hawks took over late in the game at Pitt-Bradford, winning 105-98 Wednesday night and then they outlasted Mount Aloysius over the weekend, winning 73-70 with two seconds remaining on the game clock.
• La Roche played three games last week, after battling in two the week before.  Since February 9th, the Redhawks have earned wins over Mount Aloysius (74-72), Alfred State, Pitt-Bradford (91-78), an up-set win over Penn State Behrend and closed with a win over Medaille on Senior Day.
• Both teams split the series this winter, winning on each other's home court.  La Roche earned a 91-82 victory in Hamburg while it took the Hawks 45 minutes to take the 88-85 overtime win in Pittsburgh.
• Hilbert averages 80.12 points, 16.0 3-point field goal attempts, 22.9 free throw attempts, 41.7 rebounds, 15.0 TO, and 6.36 steals per game.
• La Roche averages 80.9 points, 26.2 3-point field goal attempts, 16.7 free throw attempts, 34.6 rebounds, 13.5 TO, and 6.0 steals per game.
• The Hawks have one player listed in the top 11 scorers in AMCC-only games.  Freshman Quran Briggs averages 13.9 ppg and sophomore Edward Perez, who ranks in top 10 with .545-percent FG, is 5th in the league with 7.5 rebounds per game.
• The Redhawks also have one player in the top 11 scoring, freshman Kadyn Hannah who tosses in 15.5 ppg.  Joe Pipilo averages 6.2 3-pt FGA and Desmond Ross launches 4.3 3-pt FG's a game as well.  Devon Darrell leads the AMCC with 4.3 assists per game and is ranked 5th with 1.5 steals/game.