Indiana, Pa. – The Edinboro men's basketball team held off a late push from IUP to score a 58-56 victory Saturday afternoon inside the Kovalchick Convention & Athletic Complex.
 
Th Scots lead was 55-49 at the final media timeout. Steve Kelly extended the lead 56-49 splitting a pair of free throws at the 3:51 mark. Kymani Merraro scored five straight points to cut the Edinboro lead to 56-54 with 32 seconds to play. Kelly connected on a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 58-54. Merraro hit a layup to pull the Crimson Hawks within 58-56. Ryan Ladjevich missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the Scot defense got a stop at the other end to secure the victory.
 
Edinboro led 35-32 at the half and Cenker Evran extended the lead to 37-32 with a layup at the 19:05 mark of the second half.  IUP went on a 4-1 spurt to trim the lead to 38-36 with 16:35 to play. The Scots responded with a 13-2 run capped by an Evran layup at the 10:14 mark to take a 51-38 lead.
 
The Crimson Hawks closed the gap with a 9-2 spurt pulling within 53-47 after a Tyler Grove jumper at the 6:20 mark. Kelly hit a jumper of his own at the 4:39 mark to push the advantage back out to 55-47 at the 4:39 mark. Sarp Furtun hit a jumper with 4:21 on the clock setting up the final sequence.
 
Kelly gave the Scots an early 8-5 lead with a trey at the 17:29 mark of the first half. IUP scored the next eight points to grab a 13-8 lead on a Merraro and-one with 15:43 on the clock. The teams went back and forth with Ladjevich giving Edinboro a 17-15 lead with 11:54 left in the opening frame.
 
IUP answered with an 8-2 run to take a 23-19 lead with 8:32 remaining in the first. Bryce Baez cut the lead to 23-21 with 8:08 to play in the first quarter, that was the last time the Crimson Hawks would hold a lead in the game. Michael Dunn gave the Scots the lead back with a triple at the 7:14 mark and Daunte Wilcott extended the lead with a 3-pointer of his own. IUP leveled the scored at 29-29 with 3:15 on the clock. The Scots closed the half with a 6-3 spurt to hold a 35-32 lead at the half.
 
The win marks the first season sweep of IUP since the 2007-08 season. The Edinboro defense held IUP to 3-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
Kelly led the Edinboro offense with 16 points. Evran added a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Baez and Dunn each tallied nine points for the Scots.
 
Merraro led the Crimson Hawk offense with 25 points. Christian Moore added 13 points and seven rebounds.
 
The Scots are back in action next Saturday when they host Seton Hill at 3 p.m. inside McComb Fieldhouse. Edinboro will celebrate Senior Day prior to the game.