IUP PLAYERS, COACH HONORED BY PSAC AHEAD OF TODAY’S SEMI-FINAL MATCH

Four members of IUP’s men’s basketball team have taken some top honors at the PSAC post-season awards.

Armoni Foster, Dave Morris and Ethan Porterfield received first-team All-PSAC honors.  This marks the third time in program history that IUP has had three players earn the honor, and the fifth straight year that IUP has had multiple players on the All-PSAC first team.  This is the first time Morris and Porterfield have been named to the All-PSAC first team and the second time for Foster.

Speaking of Armoni Foster, he was also named the PSAC West Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Year.  Foster has had one of the best year’s in the program’s history, with 14 20-point games, including three where had over 30 points, and 567 points this season.  Foster is averaging 19.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and seven assists per game in 29 starts, and has had to battle through injury this season as well.  He also leads the PSAC with the most free-throws made with 148, and earlier this season, Foster hit the 1000 point plateau.

Also, Tomiwa Sulaiman was named the 2022 PSAC West Rookie of the year.  The freshman forward started 12 games for the Crimson Hawks, and is averaging 11.3 points, 6.7 boards, and has shot 60.2% from the field.  That includes a season high 26 points against Cal U. on February 9^th.

And the Men’s team has yet ANOTHER honor, as coach Joe Lombardi was named PSAC West Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year.  In his 16^th campaign, Lombardi has guided IUP to a 27-2 overall record, their sixth straight PSAC West regular season title, and has put the IUP program at number 3 in the D-2 Coaches Poll and 2 in the media poll.

The IUP men are going to have to put that out of their minds, though, as they are on the hunt for the PSAC championship.  Today’s games at the KCAC will feature Mercyhurst vs Millersville at 1:00, with IUP playing Shippensburg shortly after that.  The winners will play at 3:00 PM Sunday in the championship round.  You’ll be able to hear today’s game on U-92.5 FM and the U-92.5 Sports Channel at 3:15 today with the pre-game show.