The IUP Crimson Hawks defeated Fayetteville State, NC in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Men’s Atlantic Regional, 65-49, Saturday afternoon in front of 2,287 fans at the Kovalchick Complex.
Jack Benedict has the recap on U92.5 FM.
The Hawks will play in the regional semi-final Sunday night at 7:30 against Mercyhurst, which defeated Millersville in the late game, 71-65.
IUP led 32-23 at the half, and built at 46-29 lead with 12:37 remaining but the Bronco’s scored 11 straight points on the strength of three straight 3-pointers from Cress Worthy to make it 46-40 with 9:17 left. IUP then scored 12 of the game’s next 14 points to pull away.
Worthy led FSU with 18 points.
The Hawks held Fayetteville State to just 31 percent from the field as the Broncos converted just 17 of 54 field goal attempts.
The Hawks (30-2) have now won 15 games in a row, and have permitted an average of just 48.3 points per game over the last three games, including the PSAC semi-final and championship victories.
“We found a way to grind it out against a very well coached team,” said IUP Head Coach Joe Lombardi. “Sometimes there’s a little bit of pressure being the number one seed and playing at at home but I was proud of our team.”
IUP guard Dave Morris led IUP with 22 points, including six three-pointers. Morris was 7 of 10 overall and 6 of 8 from outside the arc.
Ethan Porterfield and Armoni Foster were also in double figures with 12 and 10 points respectively.
The Crimson Hawks were out-rebounded, 40-32.
“That’s something I was not happy about,” Lombardi said. “We usually are better and we have to be better moving forward.”
Fayetteville State, which made its first NCAA postseason appearance since 1993, finished 21-8.
“That (IUP) is an outstanding basketball team who plays very well on both ends of the floor,” commented Broncos Head Coach Luke D’Alessio. “They are very good defensively, and we had a two week layoff since we won the CIAA championship, and I think that hurt us a little bit, but IUP has it going on with resources, their fans are outstanding, and they feed off it. They could win a national championship.”
IUP will try to take that next step Sunday night at 7:30 at the Kovalchick Complex.
NOTES: The KCAC Box Office will open at 2:00 PM Sunday afternoon. Cal U will meet West Virginia State at 5:00 PM in the first semi-final. California defeated Fairmont State, 95-74, in the first game of four Saturday afternoon, while West Virginia State upset #2 seed West Liberty, 103-94, in overtime….. Lombardi is now 19-9 all-time in NCAA tournament games and 9-1 in opening round games. The Hawks are now 5-1 in home NCAA tournament games, winning the 2010 regional at the old Memorial Field House….With West Liberty’s season-ending 3rd loss, the Hawks are now one of two teams in the country in Division II with two or fewer losses this season. Nova Southeastern from Florida is 29-0 after defeating Savannah State, 113-62, Saturday afternoon in the South Regional….IUP has now won 37 of its last 38 home games dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season, including 19-1 this years.
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