ERIE, Pa. – Wes Davic (Grafton, OH/Midview) netted a career-high 24 points to lead the Penn State Behrend men's basketball team past Hilbert 64-62 Wednesday night. Davic shot 8-for-11 from the field and reeled in eight rebounds.
Coming in fighting for the number two seed in the AMCC playoffs, Hilbert (18-6, 12-5 AMCC) gave the Lions (22-2, 16-1 AMCC) their closest game of the season. With the score knotted up at 43 with 12:28 to play in the second half Behrend took control of the game going on a 12-to-3 run and took a nine point lead with 6:41 left to play.
Hilbert fought their way back into the game and trailed by just three with fewer than 90 seconds left on the clock thanks to two huge free-throws by Sean Weisansal. Davic capped off a career night by hitting a clutch jump shot on perhaps the game's most important next possession.
With 28 seconds left Trevor Stark tacked on two free-throws for Hilbert keeping the Behrend lead to just one possession. Davic once again stepped up in crunch time and went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe after being intentionally fouled to give the Lions a 63-58 advantage with the shot clock turned off.
With 10 seconds left Jerame Owens notched a layup that cut the Behrend lead back to three. At the other end of the floor Zane Hackett (Brookville, PA/Brookville) was sent to the line for two shots needing only one to seal the win. Hackett stepped up and hit the first free-throw putting the dagger on the Hilbert upset and comeback attempt.
The match-up in the paint featured two of the best big men in the conference in Jerame Owens and Zane Hackett. Hackett came away with a double-double scoring 12 points and securing 10 rebounds along with three rejections. Owens played well also scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Nick DeLisio (Aliquippa, PA/Central Valley) continued his strong senior campaign with a full stat sheet. DeLisio came away with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
As has been the case for much of the season, Mike Knoll (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) gave Behrend a lift off the bench hauling in six rebounds in 15 minutes. He also chipped in four points.
The contest featured 78 points in the paint as well as eight lead changes. The Lions shot 46.2 percent from the field, shooting under 50 percent for the first time in six games.
Behrend has pushed their win streak to 11 games and remain undefeated at home with just one contest remaining on the regular-season schedule. The Lions host Pitt-Greensburg Saturday at 4 p.m. in an afternoon AMCC showdown. Pitt-Greensburg handed Behrend their only conference loss of the season back on January 11.