PITTSBURGH, PA -- The Redhawks (25-2, 17-1) won the AMCC Tournament Championship and clinched their first NCAA Tournament appearance after beating Penn St. Behrend (22-4, 16-2) 55-53 in a thriller at Coach Scott Lang Court. It is La Roche's second conference championship in school history.

The Redhawks opened up a 22-12 lead with 9:03 left in the first half before Penn St. Behrend stormed back. Lions' guard, Chris Saltzman led the charge with 8 points over the final 9 minutes to cut the halftime deficit to 30-27.

The second half was a back and forth game. No team led by more than 6 points in the second half and inside five minutes the largest lead was only 3 points.

Penn State Behrend had the ball under the Redhawks' hoop with a second remaining and down two. The Lion's inbounded the ball to guard Nick Dvorsky for a deep two-pointer but Laron Mann blocked the ball out-of-bounds sending the Redhawks to the NCAA Tournament.

Laron Mann led La Roche with 15 points and David Jackson had his second consecutive double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Mike Dixon and Nate Wojciechowski each finished with 4 assists.

The Redhawks outrebounded Penn State Behrend 32-24 including 17 offensive boards.

La Roche Men's Basketball will be holding a NCAA Tournament Selection Show party on Monday at 1:00PM on Coach Scott Lang Court. They will find out both their matchup and location on Monday.