PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Hilbert College Men's Basketball, trailing most of the opening half, used a 10-3 run to close the period and then traded baskets with Carlow University until the final horn en route to the Hawks 74-69 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference victory.

Hilbert improved to 10-3 overall and stayed in second place in the AMCC standings with a 3-1 league record.  The Celtics split their AMCC record to 1-1 and dropped to 2-8 overall. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS
 
Quran Briggs and Larry Morse led the Hawks with identical 14 pt/10 reb double doubles while Shaheem Ellis strung together team highs with 23 points, six assists and two steals.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Larry Morse finished a feed from Ellis and Nathan Moore tallied his only points of the game in the first minute which gave the Hawks a 5-2 advantage.
• Carlow forced the Hawks into three consecutive turnovers which allowed the Celtics to swing the score, 14-7, in their favor after five minutes of action.
• And after coming up empty on the next five Hilbert trips, Ellis' 3-point make sliced the score back to a single-digit margin (17-10), but the hosts maintained their 7-to-10 point lead the next five minutes.
• Ellis and Briggs started and finished the late-half rally sandwiched around a Trevon Alexis layup to pull Hilbert within one-point at the break (29-28).  Ellis struck from inside the arc, at the foul line, Alexis secured a defensive rebound and finished with a score in the paint and Briggs scored twice at the foul line and leaped high for a tip-in score at the buzzer.
• Ellis opened the second half with five quick points to jump on top and Luke Rybicki's 3-point make lifted the Hawks to their largest lead (40-34) at 16:53.
• Both teams played through 12 lead changes over the next 12 minutes, and after Morse flipped the Hawks back on top again at 4:16, Ellis came up with a steal and fed Sonny Williams to stretch the difference to three points (64-61).
• Hilbert went 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, Ellis responded with a score in the paint to fend off a Carlow lead-change while Morse and Briggs each went 1-for-2 at the foul line. Morse came up with a big block in the final minute of the game which ensured their win.

GAME NOTES 

• The Hawks finished the game with seven 3-point makes, shooting 41% from the floor (23-56) while the Celtics, who finished the game with one more turnover than the Hawks (13 vs 12), converted 50% of the field goal attempts (25-50) and connected on seven 3-point shots.
• Hilbert finished the game sinking 21-of-28 free throws while Carlow attempted only 15 freebies, hitting 12 of them.
• Sonny Williams, in twenty minutes, went 5-for-5 from the charity stripe and scored three times from the floor (11 points) while adding one assist without committing any turnovers.

UP NEXT
 
Hilbert hits the road again for a mid-week game at Pitt-Greensburg (2 pm tip) on January 8.  The Hawks return to the Hafner Recreation Center next Saturday when they welcome La Roche University on January 11th in another 2pm tip.