Edinboro, Pa. – The Edinboro men's basketball team mounted a second-half comeback, but came up just short in 75-67 loss to visiting IUP Saturday afternoon inside McComb Fieldhouse.
 
Ethan Porterfield pushed the IUP lead to 68-58 with a pair of free throws with 3:58 left in the game. Bernie Blunt connected on a pair of 3-pointers to trim the lead to 68-64 with 3:02 to play. KJ Rhodes split a pair of free throws to push the IUP lead back to 69-64. On the next possession, Blunt scored an and-one to pull the Scots within two, 69-67 with 1:47 on the clock. Garvin Clarke scored the last six Crimson Hawk points to set the final.
 
IUP held a 42-35 advantage at halftime, but a 7-2 spurt to open the second half with Blunt scoring all seven for the Scots cut the lead to 44-42 at the 17:10 mark. The Crimson Hawks answered with a 9-2 run of their own capped by a Clarke jumper at 12:32.
 
Will Taylor and JJ Eubank each tallied buckets to pull within 53-48, but six straight IUP points pushed the lead back to 11, 59-48, after a Clarke jumper at the 8:49 mark. Jack Gallagher trimmed the lead to 61-58 capping a 10-2 run with a driving layup at the 6:00 mark.
 
Porterfield came out of the gate hot helping the Crimson Hawks to a 14-6 lead shooting 4-of-4 from beyond the arc in the first four minutes. The Scots chipped away at the lead scoring seven straight points to trim the advantage to 14-13 with 14:12 left in the first.
 
The lead swelled to 27-17 after a Jaylen Stewart jumper at 9:23 and after a Taylor layup and Porterfield splitting a pair of free throws, stood at 31-21. Edinboro went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 33-29 after a pair of Blunt free throws. Clarke extended the lead with a layup, but two Blunt free throws and a Daunte Wilcott layup cut the advantage to 35-33. IUP closed the quarter with a 7-2 spurt to take a 42-35 edge into halftime.
 
Blunt scored 27 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals to paced the Scots. Taylor added 12 points and a team-leading seven rebounds.
 
Porterfield led all scorers with 35 points while Clarke scored 21 for the Crimson Hawks to go with 10 boards.
 
The Scots return to action on Saturday at Seton Hill. Tip is scheduled for 3 p.m.