INDIANA, Pa. – Missing two of its top three scorers and forced to use a six-man rotation, IUP men's basketball victim to visiting Edinboro 79-63 in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships Wednesday night at the Kovalchick Complex.
 
The Crimson Hawks were missing starting guards Anthony Glover, Jr. (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) and Dante Lombardi (Indiana, Pa./The Kiski School). Glover was forced to sit out after being issued two technical fouls in Saturday's regular season finale at Seton Hill, and Lombardi missed the game due to injury. Together they averaged 33 points per game.
 
The top-seed from the PSAC West, the Crimson Hawks' conference run has prematurely come to an end and they'll be forced to await word from the NCAA on their Division II tournament fate. Edinboro, the No. 4 seed from the West, will face East No. 1 East Stroudsburg in Saturday's semifinals.
 
Four IUP players scored in double-figures, with forwards Jacobo Diaz (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain/CBA Gran Canaria) and Willem Brandwijk (Voorburg, The Netherlands/Holderness School (NH)) each scoring a team-high 16 points. Diaz added nine rebounds and shot 7-of-12 from the field, scoring 12 of his 16 in the second half.
 
Brandwijk tied a career-high with 16 points, serving as the Crimosn Hawks (22-8) main source of offense in the first half. He finished 6-of-8 from the field and grabbed six rebounds in 37 minutes.
 
The Crimson Hawks shot an efficient 46 percent from the field, but Edinboro (18-10) drained 13 3-pointers and forced IUP into 15 turnovers. The Fighting Scots made the most of their eight offensive rebounds, scoring 18 second chance points on six 3-pointers.
 
Down 40-27 at halftime and trailing by 17 points in the second half, the Crimson Hawks used a variety of runs to cut Edinboro's lead to 11. Guard Malik Miller (Farrell, Pa./Farrell), who moved into the starting lineup, scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to keep IUP in the game late.
 
Forward Blake Danielak (Georgetown, Tex./Liberty Hill) joined Miller in the starting lineup, scoring 11 points with three 3-pointers.
 
 Up next
The NCAA will announce its Division II field of 64 Sunday night on NCAA.com. IUP is seeking its 16th all-time tournament appearance.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Men's Basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.