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Lions go down to the wire in playoff win

By Dan Isenberg

For the Mirror

Jalen Smith’s desperation shot from the corner to give the Hilbert Hawks a possible road win soared over the rim, and Penn State Altoona escaped with an 80-79 win at the Adler Gymnasium Wednesday night in the first round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference playoffs.

The fourth-seeded Lions (14-12) advanced to the semifinals on Saturday at top-seeded Medaille College, which is scheduled for a 1 p.m. tipoff.

Tensions were high in the waning seconds. A shot from the key by Smith that would have tied the game at 80 with 8.4 seconds remaining in regulation was ruled a 2-pointer by the officials, causing confusion at the scorer’s table. This also caused the clock to not roll on the inbound play, resulting in a conference by the officials.

After Penn State Altoona’s Javon Wilson missed two free-throw attempts at the other end, the Hawks found Smith again in the corner as time was expiring, but the shot didn’t fall, allowing the Lions to remain in the chase for a league title.

First-year Lions coach David McGreal hoped Wilson’s two shots would have provided more breathing room before Smith’s final shot.

“We’d done a great job this year of turning our free-throw shooting around, and it’s been one of our strengths, especially down the stretch,” McGreal said. “We needed a couple there to make it less stressful. But at the end of the day, you have to give the guys credit for staying in there and making that a great, difficult shot there at the end.”

Wilson, who had to leave the game early with foul trouble, was able to play enough for another double-double night this season, scoring 20 points while pulling down 12 rebounds.

“When I got into foul trouble, (Tay Charles) came in and held everything down,” Wilson said. “When I got back in the game we still weren’t losing but it just kind of takes the energy out of you at the beginning of the game. But my guys stayed resilient; my seniors stayed resilient. We stayed together.”

The Lions also had a big night from 6-5 junior guard Ishimeal Nance, who dropped four buckets from 3-point range and a vicious dunk off a steal to keep Penn State Altoona in control down the stretch. He says it was his teammates that made it possible for him.

“I was just getting it to corner; I was just praying that they got it to me,” Nance said. “This is playoff basketball. We’ve got a different mindset.”

Hawks coach Rob DeGrandpre felt that despite losing in dramatic fashion that the right guy took the shot.

“I think we had the right guy taking the shot. Jalen’s one of the best players in our conference, and I’m more than happy to let him take that shot. Unfortunately for us, it was too little, too late. We let them build an 8-point lead. We really didn’t defend very well, and there was stretch where there were multiple possessions where we gave up offensive rebounds, and that stuff kills you every time.”

McGreal says he’s happy for his team, who was picked to finish eighth in the league at the start of the season, and now have a chance to knock off the number-one seed.

“I showed that to them at the beginning of the pre-game talk again and just reminded them to fire them up; that they were not respected. Especially the senior class. To be picked eighth, that we had a chance to finish fourth in the conference, and now we’re going to be one of the final four remaining, so I can’t be prouder of the senior class because they’re proving people wrong every day.”

HILBERT (79): Smith 5 2-4 15, Ottey 2 0-2 5, Martineau 6 4-5 16, Carman 5 2-4 12, Paruki 9 1-3 20, Bergmann 0 0-0 0, Phillips 1 3-4 5, Jackson 3 0-0 6, Eddy 0 0-0 0. Totals — 31 12-22 79.

PENN STATE ALTOONA (80): Wilson 7 4-6 20, Nance 11 3-5 29, Lucas 2 0-0 5, Luhr 4 2-2 9, Smith 4 0-0 8, Charles 2 4-7 9, West 0 0-0 0, Gardner-Nickolson 0 0-0 0. Totals — 30 13-20 80.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hilbert 34 45 — 79

Penn State Altoona 33 47 — 80

3-point goals: Hilbert 5 (Smith 3, Ottey, Paruki); Penn State Altoona 7 (Nance 4, Wilson 2, Charles).

Records: Hilbert (15-11, 11-8 AMCC); Penn State Altoona (14-12, 13-6 AMCC).

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