CRESSON, Pa. – After battling back to force a 45-45 half time score, Hilbert Men's Basketball outscored Mount Aloysius College 50-41 in the final period to take a 95-86 road win.

The Hawks (14-11) were solid from the foul line down the stretch and improved to 7-9 in league play while they dropped the 7-18 Mounties to 5-11.

Hilbert's season continues as the No. 6 Hawks will make the program's 14th appearance in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament since the 2004-05 season.  The Hawks will travel to the third-seeded team on Tuesday, February 25th.  
 
HIGHLIGHTS 

• Six Hawks reached double figure scoring led by Larry Morse who paired 22 points with nine rebounds, five on the offensive end.
• Shaheem Ellis tossed in 20 points, earned game-high honors with eight assists while he and Nathan Moore (12 points) each finished the game hitting four 3-pointers.
• Quran Briggs added six assists while matching Jamarius Johnson with 13 points.  Johnson recorded three blocks and was perfect from the floor sinking 6-of-6 inside the lane.
• Austin Boies gave good minutes off the bench hitting 2-of-3 from downtown and 4-of-5 from the floor, while also adding five rebounds and two assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Hilbert opened the game with back-to-back 3-pt makes by Ellis and Briggs and built their largest lead in the first half after Morse scored in the lane (10-4) just three minutes into the game.  Briggs drilled another deep hit keeping Hilbert on top, but the Hawks went cold offensively and found themselves trailing 20-17 at 11:53.
• Johnson's three-point played knotted the game at 20-20 and both teams traded scores until Mount Aloysius went on a 7-2 run which built an 8-point lead.  Twice more, the Mounties held an eight-point advantage, but each time the Hawks responded with a made 3-pointer, first by Boies and then Ellis.
• Moore struck twice, at 3:42 and again at 1:43 which knotted the game at 43-all. Hilbert regained the lead 45-43 for the first time with just over one minute remaining in the first half, but the Mounties scored in the paint and sent both teams to the locker room even.
• After six attempts after the break, Hilbert struck first 70-seconds after Mount Aloysius in bounded the ball.  Ellis hit a '3' to start a 19-point Hilbert run which were all recorded in the paint or short jumpers. The Hawks held a 64-61 lead before Moore hit again from deep. Boies reached beyond the arc in the middle of additional scoring from the Hawks' big-men.
• Hilbert held their largest lead in the second half – 13 points – off Moore's fourth triple of the game (81-68) with five minutes remaining.
• The Mounties begin to take the ball to the rim which sliced the margin to six points with 1:15 on the clock.  The Hawks went 9-10 from the foul line in the final minute of the game to ensure the victory.

GAME NOTES 

• The Hawks finished the game hitting 47.3% from the field and won the game after hitting 12-of-29 shots beyond the arc and 13-of-16 at the foul line.
• Mount Aloysius also hit 47.2% from the floor but made only nine 3-pointers and hit 9-of-16 at the charity stripe.

UP NEXT
 
Hilbert advances for the 12th time over the last 14 seasons to the AMCC postseason tournament.  The Hawks are making their 12th appearance in a First Round game; twice Hilbert earned the top seed and advanced directly to the semifinal round in 2012-13 and 2015-16.