GREENSBURG, PA – The Medaille College Men's Basketball (11-14, 9-9 AMCC) team squared off this evening with Pitt-Greensburg (16-9, 13-5 AMCC) in the First Round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament.

The Bobcats were able to ride a first half lead (40-27) to beat the Mavericks and knock the defending AMCC Champions out of the tournament a final score of (80-66).

The Bobcats started the night on an (8-2) run to take the early lead. The Mavs then replied with a run of their own, taking the lead (9-8) on a jumper by senior Miles Newcomb (Oklahoma City, OK, Bishop McGuiness).

A layup gave Medaille a five point lead (13-8) at the (12:53) mark of the first half, which would turn out to be their largest lead of the night.

The Bobcats controlled the temp the remainder of the half, utilizing their size and dominating the glass for second half opportunities to go into the half with a (13) point lead (40-27).

Medaille briefly cut the lead to single digits at the (14:27) mark of the second half (50-41) on a pair of free throws by Newcomb, but this is close as they would get as UPG was able to keep the Mavericks rally attempts at bay down the stretch.

Junior Johnathan Belton (Amherst, NY, Amherst) led the Mavericks and all scorers with (24) points, as he went (9-16) from the field. He also chipped in with four rebounds and two assists.

Mike Hollenbeck (Ontario, NY, Wayne Central) went four (12) points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double-double and Chris Willingham (Nashville, TN, East Literature) finished with (10) points.

Senior Jacob Denz (East Aurora, NY, St. Mary's of Lancaster) pulled in a team high (10) rebounds, all on the defensive end of the court.

The Bobcats were led by Jerell Figueroa who finished with (22) points. Rocco Contristano finished with (20) points and (9) rebounds and Marcus Thomas had a (13) point and (21) rebounds effort. Which helped as the Bobcats outrebounded the Mavericks (53-33) on the evening.

"We showed some stretches of outstanding effort tonight, even when the game was not going our way, which was very encouraging," head coach Mike Blaine said following the loss. "Unfortunately in playoff basketball you must perform at a high level against good opponents like Pitt-Greensburg and we were unable to do that tonight."

"I'm extremely proud of our senior class, for their work over the past four years, and enjoyed working with them for the past two" Blaine continued. "Handling a coaching change is difficult during the middle of your college career, and these four young men gave us a glimpse of who they are as people."

The loss ends the Mavericks season as they finish with a final record of (11-15, 9-9 AMCC). This was their ninth consecutive trip to the AMCC Tournament.