Boxscore

A furious IUP comeback in the final four minutes fell just short in a 71-68 loss at Bowie State, only the fourth loss in the past 38 games for the Crimson Hawks over the past two seasons.

IUP (1-1) trailed by as many as 14 in the second half and was down 67-55 after a free throw by Darren Clark with 4:31 remaining. But a 13-4 run the rest of the way put the Crimson Hawks in position to tie the game in the final seconds before the last of IUP's 21 turnovers sealed its fate.

Darryl Webb (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) led IUP with 19 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double dating back to the last four games of the 2009-10 season that included the NCAA Atlantic Region championship game and all three games at the Elite Eight. Webb has 40 double-doubles in his career.

Ashton Smith (Scarborough, ON/West Hill Collegiate) added 17 points, Julian Sanders (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) hit three 3-pointers and finished with nine points and Willi Estrella (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Escuela sto Hermano Miguel) contributed eight points and nine boards. The Crimson Hawks held a 45-28 advantage on the glass.

Eric Vann led five Bulldogs in double figures with 14 points followed by Bryan Wilson with 12. Ali Djim pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Bowie State (2-0) shot 48.3 percent from the field and committed only 11 turnovers but was almost done in from the free throw line, hitting only 10 of 21.

Trailing by 12, IUP got baskets from Kevin Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa./Academy Park) and Webb to get within single digits at 67-59 with exactly four minutes left. Clark briefly put the Bulldogs back up by 10, but Bowie State scored only two more points the rest of the way as the Crimson Hawks nearly stole the victory.

Stewart hit a pair of free throws, Smith converted a layup and Marcel Souberbielle (Montevideo, Uruguay/Uruguayan American School) drained a 3 to make it 69-66 with 2:17 left. Bowie State missed on the other end, and Djim turned the ball over after grabbing the offensive rebound. IUP made the Bulldogs pay on the other end when Souberbielle scored again on a layup at the 1:16 mark to make it a one-point game.

Souberbielle, a freshman from Uruguay, had a solid game in his first college road contest, finishing with seven points while adding seven rebounds.

Clark stopped the IUP surge with a jumper with 44 seconds left, and Webb misfired on a 3-pointer. Clark was fouled to stop the clock with 20 ticks remaining but missed both free throws. After both teams called timeout, the Crimson Hawks set up for a final shot but Vann came up with a steal to deny IUP the dramatic comeback win.

IUP uncharacteristically surrendered 45 points in the first half and trailed by 10 at intermission. A basket by Rasheem King built the Bowie State lead to 53-39 in the opening three and a half minutes of the second half before Webb hit a 3 and Smith had back-to-back baskets to make it 53-48 midway through the period.

Bowie State responded with a 6-0 run of its own, and the lead stayed between eight and 12 points until the Crimson Hawks rallied late.

IUP returns home to face Lake Erie Tuesday at 7:30 in its final game before the Thanksgiving holiday.