2026 AMCC Men's Basketball First Round News and Notes
#5 Penn State Altoona Lions (12-13, 6-10 AMCC) at #4 Hilbert College Hawks (15-10, 8-8)
Tuesday, February 24^th, 2026
Hafner Recreation Center | Hamburg, NY | 7 pm
Live Stats | Live Video
 
Hilbert Hawks

• Hilbert earned the AMCC's fourth seed and a home playoff game in what will be the Hawks' 12^th playoff appearance in the last 14 seasons. This will be head coach Rob deGrandpre's 15^th trip to the AMCC Postseason.
• The offense of the Hawks is led by junior Larry Morse, an AMCC First-Team member a year ago and three-time AMCC Men's Basketball Player of the Week this season. Morse ranks second in the conference with 19.6 points per game and is third with 8.9 rebounds a game
• The Freshman trio of Ari Jones, Ne'Sean Fowlks, and Iyan Bremer have been key for the Hawks all year, combining for 26 points a night led by 10.3 from Jones.
• Junior guard Jayden Montgomery does it all for the Hawks as he averages 8.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and a conference-leading 6.4 assists per game in AMCC contests, while his 7.0 assists per game on the season ranks him first in all of Division III.
• Defensively, Fowlks and Montgomery each occupy a spot on the conferences top ten list for blocks with 0.8 and 0.6 per game, respectively. Montgomery's 1.9 steals per game sees him tied for fifth in the AMCC.
• As a team, the Hawks move the ball well, leading to efficient offense as Hilbert tops the AMCC with 17.7 assists a night and is third in the conference with a 47.3 field goal percentage.

 
Penn State Altoona Lions

• The Lions are led by Kaden Claar (16.8 ppg), Rasheed Daniels (14.5 ppg) and Nehemiah Frye (14.3 ppg).
• Michale Baskerville and Claar lead the way for Altoona on the glass as the duo each average over six rebounds per game and both players rank inside the AMCC's top ten in offensive rebounds per game.
• Mason Kargo is tasked with running the offensive for the Lions as he trails just Montgomery with 5.4 assists per game in AMCC action.
• Defensively, Claar and Baskerville are second and third in the conference with 2.6 and 2.0 steals per game, respectively, while Baskerville's 1.6 blocks per game ranks him second.

 
Series History

• The Hawks and Lions split this season's matchups with the home team winning each game.
• On January 7^th Hilbert earned a convincing 90-53 victory over the Lions as four Hawks scored in double-figures including Larry Morse, Ronnie Lewis, and Ne'Sean Fowlks who all recorded double-doubles in the matchup. Claar led Altoona with eight points in the contest.
• The Lions evened the season series with a 95-82 victory over the Hawks at home on January 31^st led by 30 points from Rasheed Daniels. Claar (17 points) and Kargo (11 points) also reached double figures while Kargo also dished out nine assists.
• Bremer's 21 points led Hilbert as Lewis, Fowlks, Morse and Montgomery also contributed at least ten points.
• All time, Hilbert owns an 19-14 record against the Lions dating back to the 2010-2011 campaign. The Hawks won the first nine meetings between the two conference foes, but the Lions have taken three of the last four matchups, including last season's postseason battle, 95-88.

 
Stat Comparisons – Conference only games:

Points per game / offense:                                   76.9 HIL | 77.8 PSA   
Points per game / defense:                                 72.4 HIL | 85.7 PSA
FG% offense:                                                       46.8% HIL | 43.3% PSA   
FG% defense:                                                     41.4% HIL | 47.4%  PSA
3FG% offense:                                                     29.9% HIL | 31.2% PSA  
3FG% defense:                                                   30.4% HIL | 37.8% PSA
Rebound offense:                                                11.8 HIL | 10.1 PSA   
Rebound defense:                                              28.8 HIL | 23.6 PSA
Steals                                                                  7.6 HIL | 10.3 PSA