By Dave Streett / Staff writer

With four seconds left in overtime, freshman Josh Kucenic toed the free-throw line with a chance to avenge an earlier loss to Hilbert and put Pitt-Greensburg in the playoffs. His first free throw fell short.

“After you miss the first, it’s all mental after that,” Kucenic said.

The second was nothing but net, sealing a 76-72 Bobcat victory. Pitt-Greensburg improved to 10-12 overall (9-6 AMCC) and Hilbert dropped to 10-12 overall (6-9 AMCC). The Bobcats locked up one of the six spots in the AMCC tournament, while Hilbert slipped into seventh place.

Senior Daniel Waajid led the way with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Waajid has been a force underneath all year registering 13 double-doubles in seventeen games.

“He (Waajid) dominates the boards every game he plays,” Ed Montgomery said.

Sophomore power forward Elliot Prigrom gave Waajid plenty of help underneath grabbing 11 rebounds and scoring 11 points. The Bobcats outscored the Hawks 40-16 in the paint in the game. However, the smooth shooting of Hawk’s senior Dallas Reinard (the AMCC’s second leading scorer at 20.1 ppg) kept Hilbert close. Reinard netted 25 points going 5 of 9 from behind the arc.

“I have to give the credit to my teammates. They set good screens and got me the ball,” Reinard said.

Reinard needed good screens because Montgomery and Kucenic took turns face guarding him.

“I get face guarded every night, but Montgomery and number 24 (Kucenic) played me especially tough,” Reinard said.

Montgomery was also a force on offense, scoring 15 points and going 4-10 from behind the arc.

“I hit my first three and that gave me a lot of confidence,” Montgomery said. “Plus, it’s easy to shoot threes when you have Waajid and Prigrom underneath to rebound.”

The passing of junior Torrey Sochacki enabled Montgomery to get open shots. Sochacki dished out 10 assists while only committing three turnovers.

Despite Sochacki’s passing, five consecutive Reinard points gave the Hawks a 59-54 lead with just seven minutes remaining. Bobcats’ head coach Marcus Kahn looked to his bench for a spark. He found it in the form of freshmen Rhett Gordon and Jacquet Wells.

A driving lay up by Gordon tied the score at 63. Then after five consecutive Hawk points, a nice left-handed layup by Wells (who had six points in the final six minutes) cut the lead back to three.

A great no-look pass from Sochacki to Prigrom put the Bobcats up two with 41 seconds left. Then a hanging jumper from Hawks’ guard Andy Marchand, who was only 5-18 from the floor, tied the game at 71 with 18 seconds left. For the second time this season the two teams went to overtime.

Unlike the first game, the Bobcats dominated the overtime period from the beginning. Waajid won the opening tip and the they never looked back.

Sochacki got things started with a driving baseline layup and Montgomery followed with a three, giving the Bobcats a 77-73 lead. The Hawks had one final opportunity to tie the game, trailing 78-75 with under a minute left. Reinard grabbed a pen and clipboard from his coach Rob deGrandpre and designed his own play.

“I was trying to show my teammates how they were playing me so I could get an open shot,” Reinard said.

However, Kucenic wouldn’t allow Reinard to get open, forcing Dan Terrette to take the shot. His 3-pointer was off the mark. Kucenic grabbed the rebound, was fouled and iced the game from the free-throw line.

The Bobcats hope to continue their hot streak this Saturday when they face Pitt-Bradford at home at 3 p.m.