Two PSAC West teams battled for 40 minutes to decide who would take home the title in the PSAC men’s basketball tournament on Sunday and it took every one of those minutes to decide a winner.
It wasn’t until Gannon’s Gibran Smith hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left on the clock to give Gannon a 69-66 victory over the Crimson Hawks of IUP that the game was decided.
In a game that saw the Golden Knights squander a 12-point lead late in the first half and early in the second half, it was Gannon which never gave up. Adam Blazek stole the basketball with 0:15 left and called a timeout to draw up one final play for the Golden Knights.
That play went to Smith, who came off a ball screen on the left wing and was able to drill the long-range jumper with a defender in his face, just three of his game-high 27 points.
That final sequence of events was a good way to sum up the game as a whole.
Gannon was up by 12 points with 1:23 left in the half before IUP began to claw back into things, allowing the Golden Knights to take a slim,42-35, lead at the half. After the break, IUP scored the first five points of the second half and got within two.
Gannon, though, pulled back ahead and went up 51-45 with 11:49 left to go.
But that’s when IUP made a run.
The Crimson Hawks tied things up at 53 after PSAC West Player of the Year Devante Chance drilled a 3-point shot. After the two teams traded buckets, IUP took its largest lead of five with 3:32 left in the contest, ahead, 66-61, after a 21-10 run.
Gannon tied things up at 66 with 1:36 to play, however, on a free throw from Blazek, who later made the spectacular defensive play that led to Smith’s game-winner.
Chance and Shawn Dyer led IUP with 22 points each in the loss while Blazek finished with 12 points and five assists.
Smith was named the tournament MVP.
Photo Credit: PSAC Sports Twitter
