ALFRED, N.Y. –
Jalen Smith hits again. Scores his 1,000 point on the road giving Hilbert a win.
The 6-1 junior guard knocked down a 3-pointer with two seconds left on the clock in overtime to will Hilbert College to a 89-88 overtime victory at Alfred State tonight.
Smith led all scorers with 29 points, pouring in 7 of his 11 attempts beyond the three-point line. He led the Hawks with three steals and finished with four assists surviving the 45 minute game with four fouls.
Hunter Martineau continues to lead the league with assists (6.6/game), and he added two more tonight with many of those headed to Smith or to
Nicholas Parucki who tossed in 18 points.
Derrek Carman and
Joseph Braniecki were a force in the paint as they each earned double doubles pairing their 10 rebounds with 12 points and 10 points, respectively. Martineau continues to drop down on the weak side of the court on defense and matched his assists efforts with rebounds.
Alfred State went 6-for-6 from the floor to start the game and forced the Hawks into their first timeout, trailing 12-2 at 16:46. Hilbert come out of that time out and Smith hit his first 3-pointer cutting the deficit to under 10 (12-5) which eventually became Hilbert's closest score the rest of the first half.
The Pioneers managed to build a 21-point lead mainly by scores in the paint. They struck for a pair of 3-pointers but the rest were all scored in the lane, posting their second dunk in the game during that stretch.
Down by 17 with just over 3 minutes left, Smith, Martineau and
Masia Phillips combined for a 7-0 run with shades of things to come in the second half.
With every deep shot Smith scored for Hilbert early in the second session, the hosts responded with easy shots inside.
The Hawks were able to slice the score to 56-55 with 11:41 off a variety of shots from the floor by several different players.
Kirkland Ottey and Phillips found their long range shooting touch and Parucki, Carman and
Jay Bergmann chipped in buckets in that time frame.
After another 6-0 run by Alfred State, Hilbert responded with their three big-men combo. Carman punctuated the 10-0 run with three consecutive jumpers for a 67-64 advantage with 6:31 remaining.
Hilbert held the lead for the next three minutes until Alfred State regained it (73-72) with 3:30 left.
Hilbert jumped back on top and both teams played through four more lead changes until Al-State forced overtime with no time on the clock.
The hosts took an 84-82 lead in the opening minute of the extra session. Carman and Parucki gave Hilbert a 2-point lead, and from that point on, each team traded buckets playing to an 86-86 score with 1:53 left.
Martineau's foul with 0:12 on the clock made Alfred State win it from the charity stripe. Now trailing by two points, Hilbert drew up a full court plan using the timeout which was called by the hosts.
With two ticks left (in the statcrew game file) Smith elevated for the win. His 3-point bucket gave the Hawks an 89-88 non-conference victory.
Hilbert improved on their decent 1st half shooting percentage (48%) with a red-hot 58.8% in the second half/overtime periods. The Hawks made 10 of 23 beyond the arc but only 5 of 10 from the charity stripe. Hilbert was credited with an uncharacteristic 25 turnovers which Alfred State converted into 34 points of their own.
Hilbert just went on the right side of the column earning their first overtime win after two earlier losses this season. The royal and white (11-9, 7-6) returns to Hamburg for a weekend game against Franciscan (1-18, 1-12) this Saturday with a 4pm tip. Hilbert currently sits in 6th place and will continue to battle for the play off over the next two and a half weeks in the regular season.
