Boxscore

Darryl Webb (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) and Julian Sanders (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) combined for 51 points, including 35 of IUP's 45 in the second half, to lead the Crimson Hawks to an 81-72 win over East Stroudsburg and a berth in the PSAC championship game against longtime rival Slippery Rock.

The Crimson Hawks improved to 23-5 with their 10th straight win and will be seeking their second straight conference tournament title and seventh overall. Slippery Rock (21-9) advanced to the final with an 82-73 win over East Stroudsburg in the first semifinal, rallying from a 12-point halftime deficit.

In addition to last year's title, IUP also won the PSAC tournament championship in 1974, 1995, 2000, 2002 and 2004. Slippery Rock has not won the PSAC championship since 1963, having lost in all five finals appearance since then including a 63-50 loss to IUP at Memorial Field House in 2000. The Rock has lost 20 in a row in Indiana since a 79-73 overtime win in 1991-92.

IUP took both games of the season series from Slippery Rock for the second straight year, winning 84-67 at Memorial Field House on January 15 and 64-52 on the road four weeks later as part of an eight-game run at the end of the regular season that enabled the Crimson Hawks to pull out the PSAC West title.

The wins over California and Slippery Rock in the opening two rounds of the PSAC tournament puts IUP at 14-1 this season at Memorial Field House and 46-3 at home over the past three seasons.

Webb scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half while also grabbing a game-best eight rebounds and blocking seven shots, tying the IUP school record and falling one shy of the PSAC tournament mark set by Edinboro's Ryan McLemore in 2008. Webb hit 8 of 12 from the field and 11 of 16 from the free throw line.

Sanders finished with 24 points on 9 of 12 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point distance. Ashton Smith (Scarborough, ON/West Hill Collegiate) added 11 points and Willi Estrella (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Escuela sto Hermano Miguel) tallied 10 to give the Crimson Hawks four player in double figures. IUP shot 58.7 percent from the field and was a sizzling 65.2 percent in the second half.

Smith also had three assists to move into seventh place in school history with 342 in his career and is just one behind sixth-place Dwayne Anthony.

Will Brown came off the bench to lead East Stroudsburg (16-12) with 16 points, followed by Terrance King with 14, Mike DeMarco with 12 and Marcus Brown with 10. The Warriors were eliminated from the conference playoffs in the semifinal round by IUP for the second straight season.

The Crimson Hawks never trailed but also could never quite put the Warriors away. IUP led 51-39 after two free throws by Sanders with 13:12 remaining in the game before East Stroudsburg scored 10 unanswered points in a span of just 1:42, climbing within 51-49 on a 3-point play by DeMarco at the 11:30 mark. A dunk and foul shot by Webb and a 3-pointer by Will Brown kept it a two-point game.

IUP then reassumed control of the game by scoring seven straight points to make it 61-52 with 8:49 left. Webb had a basket and two free throws, Kevin Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa./Academy Park) added a charity toss and Smith capped the rally with a jumper following a steal by Estrella. The lead was never below seven the rest of the way, with Sanders scoring seven points in the final four minutes to keep the Warriors at bay.