2015 NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championship
No. 3 IUP Crimson Hawks (28-6, 17-5 PSAC)
at No. 1 West Liberty Hilltoppers (28-3, 20-2 MEC)
Tuesday, March 17, 2015 | 7:00 p.m.
Athletic, Sports & Recreation Complex | West Liberty, W. Va.

IUP Game Notes (PDF)
Live Telecast: IUP-TV
Live Video: IUP-TV & WLU-TV | UStream.tv 
Live Audio: WQMU 92.5 FM | u92radio.com
Live Stats: HilltopperSports.com | Fan Stats | Media Stats | NCAA Stats

AT A GLANCE
The Crimson Hawks will battle familiar postseason foe West Liberty in the 2015 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Atlantic Region Championship game on Tuesday evening. Third seed IUP is 28-6 on the season while the Hilltoppers are 28-3 earned the right to host the Atlantic Regional tournament as the top overall seed. 

HOW THEY GOT HERE
IUP defeated PSAC rival Slippery Rock 73-65 in the regional semifinals on Sunday after earning an easy 73-53 win over Glenville State Saturday's opening round. West Liberty is coming off an 89-59 win over Fairmont State in the semifinals and cruised past Livingstone 127-89 in the first round. 

LAST TIME OUT
Finding themselves in an early 12-point hole, the Crimson Hawks slowly fought back to earn a 73-65 victory over SRU on Sunday. Gr. G Shawn Dyer (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding) scored a team-high 23 points, going a perfect 10-10 from the foul line. IUP shot nearly 90 pct from the charity stripe as a team, going 26-29 on the night. 

IUP IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
This is IUP's 14th NCAA tournament appearance, including seven straight. The program has five Elite Eight appearances (regional championships), three Final Fours and a 2010 national championship game appearance. IUP is 26-13 all-time in NCAA postseason games. 

HOME SWEET...HOME?
This is the Crimson Hawks' fifth trip to West Liberty in the last six years for the NCAA Atlantic Regional. No other other school, besides host WLU, has as many 
appearances or has played in as many games at WLU as IUP has. Here are the five schools in this year's regional who have played in one of the previous five WLU-hosted regionals:

West Liberty - 5 appearances | 13-1
IUP - 5 appearances | 9-3
Fairmont St. - 3 appearances | 2-3
Slippery Rock - 3 appearances | 2-3
Livingstone - 2 appearances | 0-2

THE WEST LIBERTY MATCHUP
These two teams are no strangers as they've faced off four times since 2010, all in the NCAA tournament. The most exciting game came last year in the regional semifinals in East Stroudsburg, as IUP fell 86-85 in triple overtime. The Hilltoppers own a 3-1 record in those four postseason matchups, with the Crimson Hawks winning the regional title 86-72 at WLU back in 2010.  

HAVE A SWEET 16
This is IUP's ninth trip to the regional championship - Sweet 16 - holding a 5-3 all-time mark in this round. The school's last regional title came in 2010, also winning the East Region in 2000 and 2002 under Gary Edwards and 1994 and 1995 under Kurt Kanaskie. 

NCAAs UNDER LOMBARDI
This is Lombardi's seventh NCAA tournament appearance at IUP, leading the Crimson Hawks to a 13-6 record with an Atlantic Regional title and national title appearance in 2010. He's 1-2 in regional championship games - all against West Liberty - winning 84-72 in 2010 and falling 89-86 in 2011 and 86-63 in 2013.  

TWO HUNDRED
Lombardi hit the 200-win plateau on Saturday with the victory over Glenville State. He's the fastest IUP coach to reach the milestone, joining Gary Edwards (206 wins) and Peck McKnight (201) and is the second fastest PSAC coach, behind Millersville's John Kochan (1984-96), to hit 200 career victories. 

THE AWARD WINNER
Sr. G Devante Chance (Philadelphia, Pa. /Electrical & Technology Charter) was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Year and is a 1st team All-Atlantic Region pick. The co-captain is 4th in the league with 16.5 ppg and 18th in Division II at 5.7 apg. He has four double-doubles and is 10th in Division II with 37.8 mpg. Chance's 195 assists this season are just 1 shy of tying a single season school record.  

ON A (POSTSEASON) ROLL
Chance is hitting a stride during IUP's postseason games, averaging 18.2 ppg, 5.0 apg and 4.2 rpg in the Crimson Hawks' six PSAC & NCAA tournament games. He scored 22 points against Gannon and Glenville State and had 15 points and 10 assists against ESU in the conference semifinals. 

DYER'S POSTSEASON SUCCESS
Gr. G Shawn Dyer (Marion, Ohio/Marion Harding), a 2nd team All-PSAC West pick, has a 25-4 career record in postseason games, including his three years at West Liberty. He's averaging 16.2 ppg in those games, including 19.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg and a 47.9 FG% in IUP's six PSAC & NCAA tournament games this year. 

TELL THE WORLD THAT I'M COMING HOME
Dyer played in 46 home games for West Liberty at the ASRC, averaging 11.3 ppg. Six of those games came in the NCAA tournament, including a 20-point outing against Bowie State in the 2013 first round.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Crimson Hawks are at their best when the defense performs well as they are 12-1 when holding opponents under 60 points and 25-4 when opponents score less than 70 points in a game. The high-scoring Hilltoppers have been held under 70 just once all year - an 83-68 loss to Glenville State in the MEC tournament. 

SCOUTING WEST LIBERTY
The Hilltoppers are consistently one of the top scoring teams in the nation, entering this matchup ranked second in Division II by averaging 101.4 points in their 31 games. They're led by Atlantic Region Player of the year, Jr. F Segar Bonifant. The scorer is 8th in the nation with 23.2 ppg, doing a lot of his damage from behind the arc with 119 3-pointers on the year. Three other players average double-figures in scoring, including Sr. F CJ Hester at 14.9 ppg. Although West Liberty scores a lot, the Hilltoppers style of play allows for opponents to score plenty of points as they give up 83.2 per game. 18 times WLU opponents have gone for 80 or more, including 83 to Glenville St. in the Mountain East Conference semifinal loss.