The Medaille College men's basketball team lost to the La Roche University RedHawks in the final seconds of what was an intense Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference game. The Mavs fell just short losing 71-73.

The Mavs started the first half strong with a three-pointer from Bryce Smith (College Station, TX, A&M; Consolidated) to open the game. Travis Sanders (Cleveland, OH, Euclid) followed up with a layup as the Mavericks were in the zone. The RedHawks responded with two three-pointers but the Mavs kept their focus as Kendall McGill (Largo, MD, Largo) attacked the basket for a made layup. Smith hit another deep three-pointer as the Mavs made the most of all of their scoring opportunities. Medaille continued to execute on both ends of the court to force La Roche into taking a timeout, down 8-18. The aggressive offensive rebounding from the Mavs continued to pay off. Late in the first half, the RedHawks added a good three to stay within range of Medaille. La Roche started executing offensively to tie the score up at 25. Sanders hit both free throws and McGill made a jumper to regain the lead before the RedHawks marched back to tie the score up at 29. Dante Moultrie (Buffalo, NY, North Tonawanda) grabbed a late steal and made layup before La Roche took over to end the half winning 41-33

La Roche hit a short jumper early in the second half to try and put the game away early. The Mavs refused to back down as the game became a defensive battle with neither team gaining an edge. A turnover by Medaille led to a quick layup from the RedHawks. With the Mavs trailing 36-50, Jaqwan Washington (Bryan, TX, Bryan) hit a three-pointer to give the Mavs some life. Jorarei Bile (Oxon Hill, MD, Oxon Hill) followed up Washington with a made layup in heavy traffic to get the Mavs within range. Trevor Young (Buffalo, NY, Frederick Law Olmsted) made a three to get the Mavs within four but the RedHawks answered with a quick jumper. Young responded again with a layup as both teams traded back and forth. Sanders scored on a fast break layup and McGill added another jumper to get Medaille within three. La Roche continued to respond to the pressure but Medaille closed in fast. With 20 seconds left to play, and Medaille trailing 68-71, McGill hit a clutch three-pointer to tie the game. The Mavs mounted a stellar comeback until the RedHawks snuck in a layup with two seconds left to play. Medaille ran out of time and lost 71-73.

As a team, the Mavs went 24-54 (44.4%) from the field, 6-16 (37.5%) from three, and shot 17-24 (70.8%) from the free throw line. Medaille had 28 rebounds and ten steals in the loss.

Game leaders for the Mavs were McGill with 20 points going 7-16 with one rebound and two steals, Sanders with a double-double reaching 13 points going 5-9 with 12 rebounds, and Washington with 11 points and three steals. Young and Bile both scored eight points in the loss.

The next game for the Mavs will be Wednesday, January 19 at home against Pitt-Bradford. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.