INDIANA, Pa. – Senior forward Devon Cottrell (Pittsburgh, Pa. /Gateway) made the game-winning layup with 0.1 seconds left to give No. 12 IUP men's basketball a thrilling 77-76 win over No. 8 Kutztown in a battle of top 15 teams on Sunday afternoon at the Kovalchick Complex.
 
On a special day for Cottrell, he also broke the IUP career blocked shots record, swatting away his 163rd to move ahead of Darryl Webb's (2007-12) 162 career swats. Cottrell finished the day by tying a career-high of 18 points.
 
The game-winning layup came off a missed three-point attempt on the right wing by guard Ayron Hutton (Virginia Beach, Va./Cape Henry), as Cottrell came from the opposite side of the hoop and laid in the reverse layup in one motion before time expired.
 
The Crimson Hawks improved to 8-1 overall and 3-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The loss was the first of the year for Kutztown, which fell to 6-1 and 3-1.
 
The back-and-forth game featured 13 ties and 18 lead changes, with each team holding the lead twice in the final two minutes of action.
 
A tip-in by Kutztown's Anthony Lee gave the Golden Bears a 74-71 lead with 2:49 to play, but a pair of free throws by senior guard Brandon Spain (Baltimore, Md./Glen Burnie) with 1:31 to play cut IUP's deficit to one. Junior guard Anthony Glover (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) gave the Crimson Hawks a one point lead on their next possession, but Kutztown took a 76-75 lead on a layup with 30 seconds to go.
 
The Crimson Hawks had their first chance to go ahead with 18 seconds to play, but after a failed possession, Lee turned the ball over and gave IUP one last chance with seven seconds to play. That would lead to Cottrell's game-winning tip-in.
 
IUP boasts balanced scoring
Cottrell's 18-point performance led five IUP players who scored in double-figures on the afternoon. Glover went for 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting while dishing out four assists. Spain and sophomore guard Dante Lombardi (Indiana, Pa./The Kiski School) each tallied 11 points and Hutton finished with 10 points.
 
Crimson Hawks' best win since 2015
The win over the eighth-ranked Golden Bears was IUP's best victory since defeating then-seventh-ranked Tarleton State in the 2015 national semifinals. That win was the third straight over ranked opponents for the Crimson Hawks.
 
Up next
IUP will play its fifth of eight straight home games next Saturday, hosting Mansfield at 7:30 p.m. at the Kovalchick Complex.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Men's Basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPMens_Bball.