Hamburg, NY:  The Pitt-Greensburg men's basketball team suffered a 101-82 road defeat at the hand of the Hilbert College Hawks on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, the #3 Bobcats move to 14-9 overall and 11-5 in conference play, one game ahead of fourth place La Roche (10-6).  #2 Hilbert improves to 19-4 on the year and 13-3 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference play.  With two games remaining Pitt-Greensburg has clinched a top four finish and the home play-off game that comes with it.

The first half kicked off with a back-and-forth opening three minutes that would see the Bobcats atop a 9-6 score after a Rocco Contristano (Pittsburgh, PA, Keystone Oaks) jumper at the 17:30 mark.  The Hawks answered with seven straight points before a Jarrett Shannon (Duncansville, PA, Hollidaysburg) three, two minutes later, brought UPG within one, 13-12.  This pattern continued throughout the first half, with Hilbert working to create separation only to have the Bobcats dig into the deficit. 

Pitt-Greensburg would get within one on two more occasions, the latter coming on a Mike Connelly (Butler, PA, St. Joseph) jumper with 6:01 remaining, bringing the score to 25-24. 

With just 1:45 left before the half another Contristano basket would bring the Bobcats within striking distance at 34-31, but a 7-0 run by Hilbert run would close out the half and put UPG in a 41-31 hole.

Statistically, not much would separate the teams with both finishing 50% from the floor.  Pitt-Greensburg converted 14-28 and Hilbert 16-32.  The discrepancy came in foul shots where Hilbert went 7-10 compared to UPG's 2-3.

Pitt-Greenburg could not cut into the Hawk advantage in the second half eventually falling by the 101-82 final.

The Bobcats finished the day shooting 53.4% (31-58) but had a tough night from three-point land, converting just two of their nine attempts.

The offense was paced by three double-digit scorers with Jerell Figueroa (Dover, PA, Dover Area) leading the way with 18 points.  Contristano finished with 17 and freshman, Kyle Bondi (Moon Twp, PA, Moon Area) stepped up for a career-high 15 points.

Pitt-Greensburg continues their road stint with a trip to Cresson, PA to face Mount Aloysius on Wednesday, September 17^th.  Tip is scheduled for 6:00pm.

GAME NOTES:

• Senior Marcus Thomas now sits 35 points away in his quest to become the Bobcats fourth member of the 2016 graduating class to score 1000 points.