Fairmont, W.Va. – The Edinboro men's basketball team fell 73-70 to Salem University Friday night on the first day of the Joe Retton Classic
Evan Berger made a layup with 2:50 left in the game to put the Scots up 68-63. Salem answered with a 9-0 run to take a 72-68 lead after a pair of Eman Lawal free throws with 15 seconds to play.
Rowan Carmichael hit a layup with eight seconds left to trim the lead to 72-70. Lawal hit a free throw to push the lead to 73-70 and Carmichael's 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark giving the Tiger the victory.
Salem held an early 9-8 lead after a Jamari Gamble layup at the 11:58 mark of the first half.
Mekhi Reynolds hit a triple with 8:23 remaining in the first half to put the Scots ahead 19-15. Ezekiel Birchett cut the lead to 19-17.
Ibrahim Robinson and Reynolds scored back-to-back buckets to make it 23-17 Edinboro.
The Scots lead held at six, 29-23, after a Daniel-Wilson Charlot layup with 4:30 left in the first half. Lawal hit a pair of free throws capping an 8-0 run knotting the score 29-29. Edinboro scored the final eight points of the half led by four points from Charlot to take a 37-29 lead into the half.
Carmichael extended the lead to 42-32 after a triple at the 18:11 mark of the second half. The Tigers closed the gap with an 8-2 spurt of their own to pull within 44-40 with 16:49 to play. Edinboro extended the lead with a Robinson layup with 12:44 remaining making the score 55-46.
Robinson hit a trey at the 8:06 mark to give the Scots a 63-54 edge. Salem scored the next five points cutting the advantage to 63-61 on a Justin Fisher layup with 6:40 to go. Robinson split a pair of free throws to put the Scots up 64-61. Vaughn Prosser tipped in a layup with 5:07 on the clock to pull the Tigers to within 64-63. Robinson and Berger each hit layups to put Edinboro up 68-63.
Robinson tallied 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting while also pulling down nine rebounds. Carmichael added 14 points. Berger tallied a double-double of 10 points and 10 boards.
Bryce Baez chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.
Lawal led the Tigers with a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds. Gamble added 13 points while Zahki Fallen notched 12 points.
The Scots are back in action on Saturday when they take on host Fairmont State at 8 p.m.
