INDIANA, Pa. – Three IUP seniors combined for 36 and seven 3-pointers to lead the Crimson Hawks to a 77-69 win over Edinboro, clinching the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division regular season title Wednesday night.
 
IUP celebrated Senior Night with the win that locked up a first round bye and a home quarterfinal game in next week's PSAC tournament. This marks the third straight regular season division title for the Crimson Hawks, and the program's seventh in the last eight seasons.
 
The game was streamed live on WatchESPN as part of the NCAA Division II Showcase.
 
The Crimson Hawks improve to 21-7 overall and 17-4 in PSAC play. Edinboro drops to 16-9 and 13-8.
 
Seniors Blake Danielak (Georgetown, Tex./Liberty Hill), Anthony Glover, Jr. (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit), and Ayron Hutton (Virginia Beach, Va./Cape Henry) were all honored prior to tipoff. Glover scored a team-high 19 points with six rebounds and five assists; Danielak scored 11 points in 21 minutes; and Hutton had six points, three assists and two rebounds in 23 minutes.
 
Both teams were hot from long range in the early going, as they combined for 14 3-pointers in the first half. The lead exchanged hands 12 times with three ties in the first 10 minutes of action as the Crimson Hawks took a 23-21 lead with a triple from Dante Lombardi (Indiana, Pa./The Kiski School).
 
The 3-pointer by Lombardi started a 16-4 for the Crimson Hawks as they built a lead of 13 points in the first half.
 
They held onto that 13-point lead at 53-40 with under 15 minutes to play in the second half when Edinboro began to fight back. The Fighting Scots went on a 13-5 lead to cut their deficit to five at the midway point, and climbed to within two at 65-63 with 5:13 to play.
 
IUP clung to a 68-67 lead when Lombardi's slashing layup with 1:07 left jumpstarted a 7-0 run as the Crimson Hawks pulled away down the stretch. After Lombardi's layup, Malik Miller (Farrell, Pa./Farrell) picked up a steal at midcourt and raced in for another layup, with foul shots added by Jacobo Diaz (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain/CBA Gran Canaria) and Lombardi in the final minute. Glover iced the game with a pair of free throws with 5.4 seconds left.
 
IUP boasted balanced scoring, with Lombardi scoring 16 points, Miller 12, and Diaz 11.
 
The Crimson Hawks finished with 13 3-pointers on the night while holding Edinboro to a 7-of-20 performance from beyond the arc. Edinboro leading scorer Keshawn Liggins finished with 20 points on the night, but the Crimson Hawks held him to an 8-of-22 shooting performance, including 0-of-6 from 3-point range.  
 
IUP in the PSAC tournament
The Crimson Hawks will be making the program's 31st all-time PSAC tournament appearance. They've won 16 division titles, including eighth under head coach Joe Lombardi. They'll host a quarterfinal game Wednesday, Feb. 28.
 
NCAA Atlantic Region rankings
Earlier in the day, the NCAA released its Division II regional rankings, which determine the 64-team tournament field. The Crimson Hawks landed at No. 5 in the Atlantic Region, the same spot they were in last week's debut rankings.  
 
Up next
IUP wraps up its regular season Saturday afternoon at Seton Hill (10-17, 6-15 PSAC). Tipoff is 3 p.m. in Greensburg.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Men's Basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.