Indiana, Pa – A vigorous second half comeback fell short as the Edinboro men's basketball team was defeated by #4 IUP 76-67, at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex on Wednesday night. The Fighting Scots now fall to (5-10) overall and (3-7) in PSAC play.
With 3:52 left in the game back-to-back layups from Deontae Robertson and Jaryn Simpson trimmed the IUP lead down to just four points after being 19 points earlier in the half. During Edinboro's strong second half surge, the Fighting Scots outscored the Crimson Hawks 28-13 in a span of 14 minutes of play.
In the first half Edinboro struggled with converting shots, they were 10-36 from the field and shot twenty-two percent from distance. The Fighting Scots did hold the upper hand down low. Edinboro outscored IUP in the paint 40-16, as the Scots found rhythm near the hoop.
Edinboro finished the first half on a 12-4 run which cut the lead to 32-24 at the half. The run was fueled by shots in the paint, as ten of the twelve points came from layups. Robertson converted on three layups during the run.
As the second half began IUP immediately grabbed hold of momentum and went on a 14-3 run creating their biggest lead of the game.
At the 5:09 mark, a huge three-pointer from Kameron King would cap off a 7-0 run for the Fighting Scots as the lead was cut to five points. The run started with a jumper by Robertson and a layup from Terrence Moore.
Edinboro improved their shooting exceptionally in the second half, as they converted on 45 percent of their shots and 85 percent from the free throw line.
The final three minutes of action had IUP slowly pulling away with help from their backcourt of Dave Morris and Armoni Foster who combined for 44 points. Morris and Foster each converted on a three-pointer in the final minutes to seal the victory for the home team 76-67.
Moore led Edinboro with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Robertson finished with 15 points, along with six rebounds and four assists.
Simpson followed them with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Edinboro will be back in action on Monday when they host Slippery Rock at 7 p.m.
