IUP’s men’s basketball team has pretty much cruised through the past month of its PSAC West schedule to put itself in position to win the division title.
Since losing on Dec. 12 against nationally-ranked Fairmont State, the Crimson Hawks had won 12 straight games including a perfect 10-0 mark in 2016. Last night, IUP needed a large amount of resiliency to overcome a double-digit second-half deficit on the road against a pesky Clarion Golden Eagles team. The Crimson Hawks used an 18-3 run to help erase a 10-point deficit and hang on for the 69-68 road victory at Tippin Gymnasium.
As any IUP fan would expect, PSAC West player of the year front runner Brandon Norfleet had a lot to do with that big comeback. Norfleet tallied his absurd 16th 20-point game this season with 22 and helped kick off the big run with a three-pointer. IUP claimed a 65-58 lead with 2:34 to play to seemingly put the game away. However, the high-tempo Golden Eagle offense clawed back to make it a two-point game with 12 seconds left.
IUP fouled Clarion forward Rob Agurs on the next possession to send him to the line with 2.5 seconds left. Agurs, who had scored a team-high 19 points, made the first but missed the second to seal the 13th straight win for the Crimson Hawks. Brandon Spain added 12 points and eight rebounds for IUP, who saw their division lead, grow to 3.5 Wednesday with now less than two weeks left in the regular season. The Crimson Hawks (19-5, 12-3) now will travel to face rival Slippery Rock this Saturday night while Clarion (12-13, 9-10) also hits the road Saturday to face the Edinboro Fighting Scots.
Slippery Rock 57 California 48: The Rock continued a streak of their own Wednesday night by defeating the Vulcans for the 11th straight time with a 57-48 victory on the road. Slippery Rock took advantage of a cold-shooting Cal squad to build a lead by as much as 19 points midway through the second half. The Vulcans actually outscored the Rock in the second, but the deficit was just too much to overcome for the Vulcans (7-17, 4-14) who now have lost six straight games.
Slippery Rock was led by a pair of 19-point performances from Cornelius Brown and Malcolm Richardson. Brown also added 13 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. Richard Smith led all Vulcans scorers with 14 points. The Rock (13-11, 8-10) maintained their tie for the sixth and final playoff spot in the division with Seton Hill. Slippery Rock will look for a monumental win against IUP at home Saturday night while the Vulcans travel just up the road to Seton Hill looking to possibly help the Rock out with a win over the Griffins.
Edinboro 78 Pitt-Johnstown 76: For the second straight game, UPJ was dealt a heart-breaking overtime loss at home, this time to Edinboro. The Fighting Scots were led from an immaculate 34-point performance from sophomore star, Jaymon Mason, to maintain third place in the PSAC West. Mayson hit a turn-around jump shot to send the game to overtime. From there, the Fighting Scots dominated most of overtime building as much as a four-point lead with under a minute left and held on. UPJ was led from 21 points from Nate Snodgrass, who begin a three-game road trip starting this Saturday in Erie against Mercyhurst. Edinboro now will host Clarion Saturday afternoon at home and look to avenge a loss from earlier in the season against the Golden Eagles.
Seton Hill 59 Gannon 57: Needing a win to stay tied for the division’s final playoff spot, the Griffins turned to their leading scorer, Kameron Taylor, to save their hopes. Taylor hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to defeat the Golden Knights at home. Gannon (6-16, 5-14) who has played better of late, used a 17-point performance from Matthew Dogan to position them for a possible second straight road upset. Seton Hill (10-12, 8-10) was led by 16 points from Trevor Blondin to go along with Taylor scoring 14. The Griffins host California Saturday afternoon looking for a second straight season sweep over the Vulcans while Gannon takes on Le Moyne in a road non-conference match up.
