EDINBORO, Pa. – It was a celebratory evening for the IUP men's basketball program Wednesday as the second-ranked Crimson Hawks clinched the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division regular season title with an 87-59 win over Edinboro at McComb Fieldhouse.
 
The win was also the 300th in the highly successful career of IUP head coach Joe Lombardi. He's the 10th coach in PSAC history to win 300 games and in 13 seasons and 399 games, the fastest of the league's coaches to reach the milestone.
 
The Crimson Hawks improved to 25-2 on the season and have the best conference record in the entire league at 18-2.
 
Already with a first round bye, IUP clinched the program's 16th all-time regular season division title, including the ninth in 10 seasons under Lombardi. The Crimson Hawks have won four straight (2016-19) and also had a streak of five straight (2010-14) in the Lombardi era.
 
The Crimson Hawks swept the season series with Edinboro (9-16, 6-14 PSAC), also winning 102-53 at home January 21. The loss by the Fighting Scots eliminated them from conference tournament contention.
 
Senior guard Malik Miller led all scorers and tied a career-high with 26 points. He knocked down 9-of-15 from the floor and also tied a career-high with six 3-pointers.
 
As a team the Crimson Hawks drained a season-high 16 3-pointers on the night, which is tied for the fifth most in single game school history. Senior guard Dante Lombardi connected on 5-of-9 from deep, senior guard Greg Bearer went 3-of-5, and sophomore guard Anthony White finished 2-of-3.
 
Lombardi finished with 15 points, Bearer had a season-high nine, and White added six off the bench.
 
Another individual highlight came from senior forward Jacobo Diaz, who nearly earned a triple double with 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. He went 8-of-13 from the field and added three steals and a block in just 27 minutes.
 
The Crimson Hawks never trailed Wednesday, jumping out to a big 14-0 lead before the game's first media timeout. Three of IUP's first five field goals came from 3-point range, including a pair by Miller.
 
Edinboro did take advantage of a short-term slump by the Crimson Hawks to cut its deficit to five points at 17-12 nearing the midway point of the first half. But that was as close as the Fighting Scots would get, as IUP used runs of 13-3 and 19-7 to stretch its lead to 49-24 at the break.
 
It was more of the same for the Crimson Hawks in the second half as three quick buckets increased their lead to 30 points at 56-26.
 
And that's where the lead hung around the rest of the way with IUP making seven of its 16 3-pointers in the second frame and 53.6 percent from the field overall to come away with the easy victory.
 
The Crimson Hawks shot 52.3 percent from the field for the game and limited Edinboro to just 33.9 percent. IUP dished out a season-best 28 assists on 34 made buckets and dominated the board 43-to-32.
 
Notes
The Crimson Hawks are No. 2 in the NABC and No. 3 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls … They are also No. 1 in the NCAA Atlantic Region rankings for the second straight week … Due to a uniform mishap, the Crimson Hawks were forced to borrow an old set of red Edinboro road uniforms to wear for the game … This was IUP's 10th straight regular season sweep of Edinboro and their 10th consecutive victory at McComb Fieldhouse … The Crimson Hawks outscored Edinboro 189-112 in the two meetings this year … IUP is 11-1 on the road this season … The top four seeds in the PSAC West are decided with IUP at No. 1, Slippery Rock at No. 2, Mercyhurst at No. 3 and Pitt-Johnstown at No. 4 … Diaz moved into fourth place in IUP history with 1,663 career points and is now 16 points shy of moving past Brandon Norfleet and into third place.
 
Up next
The Crimson Hawks wrap up their regular season and celebrate Senior Night against Seton Hill Saturday night. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. The Griffins clinched a PSAC tournament berth and are fighting for positioning entering the final game of the season with a 9-17 overall record and 7-13 mark in PSAC play. They are coming off an 89-76 loss to Cal U Wednesday.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Men's Basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.