Men get back on track with home victory over Edinboro

Led by five players scoring in double digits, the 11th-ranked Crimson Hawks earned their fifth consecutive 20-win season with a 78-70 victory over Edinboro Wednesday.

“We play 26 games, and to win 20, for this team, that’s a real credit to their competitiveness,” Head Coach Joe Lombardi said, “the way they approach the preparation and their great will to win.”

Mathis Keita led the way with his second double-double of the season, scoring 18 points and getting a career-high 13 rebounds. Marcel Souberbielle also scored 18 points on 7-of-12 from the field, getting six rebounds. Anthony Wells almost finished a rebound away of a double-double of his own, scoring 13 points while Josh Wiegand scored 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the field in just 15 minutes of play.

Scooter Renkin also scored in double digits, all while coming off the bench. In 27 minutes of play, he finished with 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds, with four coming on the offensive end, including three in one series.

It was a back and forth game early in the first half with both teams trading baskets. The Fighting Scots had a nice lead midway through the half, but the Crimson Hawks came right back with a 10-3 run to take a four-point, 38-34, lead into the half.

The Crimson Hawks increased their lead to as much as 14 with the help of a 10-0 run early in the second half. Indiana University of Pennsylvania lost some of its control, though, when a 15-6 run by the Fighting Scots made it a 68-63 game with just 3:40 to go. 

A three-pointer by the Fighting Scots then cut IUP’s lead to just four with the score 70-66. But IUP got back in rhythm as Wells answered with a three of his own and free throws down the stretch by Keita and Souberbielle keeping Edinboro without any hope of regaining the lead. IUP then cruised to the 78-70 win.

“We made even more good passes and we went 4-for-22 from three and missed a lot of wide-open threes,” Lombardi said. “But we talk all the time about overcoming, and not getting overwhelmed, and we overcame our inability to make threes with a lot of long rebounds and second shots and kept possessions alive, and that was crucial. 

“Then Anthony hit a big three at the end and we got our mojo back and found another way to score

other than drives or free throws.”

IUP had a great night all around, out-rebounding Edinboro 46-30 and turning the ball over just eight times. The Crimson Hawks had assists on 21 of their 28 made shots and shot 81.8 percent, 18-of-22, from the foul line.

With the win, the Crimson Hawks improve their record to 20-4 overall and 16-4 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

“To win 20 games with that consistency is not only a tribute to the players,” Lombardi said, “but to the administration and all the people that help in the administration, the people that work in the field house and the athletic office, our trainers. You need a lot of peripheral support in order to accomplish the type of success we’ve had.

“It goes also to the support we have from the community with scholarship money and boosters. They have ownership in the success we’ve had because without them we wouldn’t be able to bring in the talent and young men we have.”