INDIANA, PA – Devante Chance (Philadelphia, Pa. /Electrical & Technology Charter) scored 23 points and the Crimson Hawks held off a late Slippery Rock rally as the IUP men's basketball team defeated their bitter rival 69-61 on Wednesday night at the Kovalchick Complex.
 
The Crimson Hawks held a 10-point halftime lead that increased to 21 with the help of an 11-0 run to start the second half. Slippery Rock battled back, going on runs of 13-3 and 12-5 to cut its deficit to 53-47 with 7:10 to go in the game.
 
IUP used three-pointers by Chance and Shawn Dyer (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding) to jump back on top by 14 with just over three minutes remaining, but Slippery Rock rallied again and cut the Crimson Hawks' lead to 65-59 with 31 ticks on the clock. SRU outscored IUP 6-1 over the course of a minute to get within six with the help of a layup-and-one from Antonio Butler.
 
When pressed, the Crimson Hawks made their foul shots as Chance and Brandon Norfleet (Virginia Beach, Va. /Landstown) combined to make four down the stretch to ice the game and pull out the win.
 
The Crimson Hawks improved to 21-5 overall on the year and kept a hold of the third spot in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division with a 15-5 league record.
 
Butler scored a team-high 23 points for Slippery Rock, which fell to 18-8 overall and 13-7 in the PSAC. IUP now holds a two-game lead over SRU in the standings with two games left to play in the regular season.
 
The Crimson Hawks made 13-of-25 shots from the floor in the first half as they jumped out to a 32-22 halftime lead. Norfleet was IUP's high-scorer going into the break with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He finished with 20 points, his best performance since getting injured earlier this month.
 
IUP ended up outshooting Slippery Rock 46 percent to 32 percent, although SRU did collect 19 offensive rebounds and held a 43-to-38 overall advantage on the glass.
 
Chance finished 8-of-18 from the floor and drilled four three-pointers in 40 minutes. He also dished out seven assists to move into a tie with Mont Mattocks (1966-70) for second place in school history with 450 career assists. Chance is now just seven away from breaking Ashton Smith's (2008-12) all-time record of 456.
 
Devon Cottrell (Pittsburgh, Pa. /Gateway) led IUP's rebounding efforts with a season-high 11 boards, the most he's had since November of last season. Cottrell also tied a career-high with five blocks, a mark he's matched three times previous.
 
Earlier in the day, the NCAA announced its Division II regional rankings, as the Crimson Hawks appeared at No. 3 in the Atlantic Region. West Liberty comes in at No. 1 in the rankings with Fairmont State following at No. 2.
 
The Crimson Hawks will be on the road this weekend as they travel to face Pitt-Johnstown (12-12, 9-11) on Saturday. Tipoff is at 3 p.m.