Box Score

INDIANA, PA – Mathis Keita (Thionville, France/Insep) scored a game-high 21 points while IUP held off an Alderson-Broaddus comeback attempt as the 19th-ranked Crimson Hawks tallied a 71-68 victory on Saturday night at the Kovalchick Complex.

Moving to 3-0 on the season, the Crimson Hawks shot 43.4 percent from the field, converting 14-of-25 second half shots (56 percent). Making his season debut, Scooter Renkin (Midlothian, VA/Blue Ridge) scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 27 minutes. He went 5-of-11 from the field and three assists.

IUP held a 50-48 lead before a three by Anthony Wells (Cleveland, OH/Shaker Heights) jump started a 13-2 run as the Crimson Hawks went on top by 13 at 63-50 with 6:25 left. Also hitting threes during the run were Renkin and Marcel Souberbielle (Montevideo, Uruguay/Uruguayan American School) as IUP limited the Battlers to a pair of free throws.

The lead would remain at 13 with 4:51 left when the Battlers started chipping away, going on a 10-2 run over the next 3:09 to cut their deficit to five at 68-63 with 1:42 left. After a bucket by Renkin got it back to seven, a traditional three-point play from Kurklin Bohanon with 13 seconds left made it a 70-66 game.

An IUP turnover gave the ball back to the Battlers, who converted a pair of free throws with nine seconds on the clock to make it a two point game.

A foul on the inbounds pass sent Chance to the line where he missed his first before making it second, pushing the IUP lead to 71-68 with eight seconds remaining. The Battlers would set up for a three but would end up going inside in hopes of converting a layup and drawing a foul but neither would happen as IUP held on for the win.

Keita had his second straight 20-point game for IUP, going 7-of-14 from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line, adding eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in 36 minutes.

Wells had nine points while Souberbielle chipped in eight points and seven boards.

The Crimson Hawks outrebounded Alderson-Broaddus 39-34 and forced 14 turnovers.

It was tight in the early going of the first half until IUP grabbed the lead at the 15:29 mark, holding it until the Battlers went on top 20-18 with 4:42 left before the break. The Crimson Hawks would tie the score twice in the last few minutes but a pair of free throws by Bohanon with 18 seconds on the clock gave Alderson-Broaddus a 27-25 lead heading into the half.

This was the opening game of the Indiana Regional Medical Center Classic, with Seton Hill defeating Washington Adventist 65-63 in the nightcap.

The Crimson Hawks return to the court on Sunday when they play Seton Hill on the final day of the classic. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m.