INDIANA, Pa. – Senior forward Jacobo Diaz posted his 15th double-double of the season while IUP withstood a strong first half from Pitt-Johnstown as the Crimson Hawks ended the night with a 76-68 win in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Men's Basketball Championships Wednesday at the Kovalchick Complex.
 
The top seed from the PSAC Western Division, the Crimson Hawks earned the right to host the semifinal and championship rounds of the conference tournament this weekend.
 
The Crimson Hawks (27-2) will face West Chester in Saturday's semifinals, while East Stroudsburg and Mercyhurst also make the trip to Indiana and will play in the day's first matchup at 1 p.m. IUP and West Chester will follow at 3:30 p.m.
 
Fourth-seeded Pitt-Johnstown (17-13) looked nearly unstoppable on offense through much of the first half, making 14 of its first 16 shots from the field. The Mountain Cats ended up shooting 72.7 percent in the first half.
 
Even with its hot start, UPJ couldn't separate from the Crimson Hawks. IUP started the game just 2-of-12 from the field but forced the Mountain Cats into 10 first half turnovers and grabbed six offensive rebounds in the opening frame.
 
UPJ's biggest lead of the game came less than four minutes into the night at 10-3. The Mountain Cats did stay on top for most of the first half before a 9-1 run by the Crimson Hawks gave them a 35-31 lead with 2:18 left.
 
Senior guard Dante Lombardi gave IUP its first lead at 31-30 on a 3-pointer with 3:58 to play, while Diaz knocked down a triple of his own minutes later to make it a 35-31 game.
 
Lombardi and junior guard Malik Miller added buckets and the Crimson Hawks took a slim 39-37 lead into the break.
 
The Mountain Cats kept it close and tied the game several times in the second half, eventually taking a 52-51 lead on a pair of free throws by Josh Wise. Those points were part of a 6-0 run by Pitt-Johnstown, its largest of the game.
 
Miller answered with a jumper on the other end, which started a 13-2 run to swing the momentum back in the Crimson Hawks' favor.
 
Diaz, Lombardi and junior forward Chucky Humphries each scored for the Crimson Hawks during the run as they took a 64-54 lead with 6:11 to play. Humphries added energy and excitement off the bench as his defense and rebounding helped fuel the IUP run.
 
The Crimson Hawks pushed their lead to 11 on a few occasions, with a thunderous dunk by Humphries making it a 71-60 game with 4:02 left. From there, IUP bled the clock and made timely shots down the stretch to close out the 8-point in and advance.
 
Diaz finished with team-highs of 19 points and 11 rebounds. He went 7-of-13 from the field with a 3-pointer and finished 4-of-4 from the foul line with two blocks and two steals.
 
Miller added 17 points while Lombardi scored 16 and dished out five assists.
 
The Crimson Hawks overcame a slow start to shot 40.0 percent in the first half and 40.9 percent for the game. Six first half 3-pointers helped give them that 2-point lead before halftime.
 
After starting 14-of-16 from the field, Pitt-Johnstown went just 11-of-33 the rest of the way and shot 51.0 percent for the night. The Crimson Hawks forced UPJ into 17 turnovers, scoring 29 points off those mistakes for the game.
 
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 third straight week … The Crimson Hawks improved to 16-1 at home this season … IUP went 3-0 against Pitt-Johnstown this season with a scoring margin of +11.3 … This will be the second straight eligible season – and fourth in the last five – that IUP will serve as host of the final two rounds of the PSAC Men's Basketball Championships … The Crimson Hawks also hosted in 2017, 2013 and 2011, winning the conference title in the latter two … IUP is making the program's 34th all-time PSAC tournament appearance and 12th straight since 2008 under head coach Joe Lombardi.
 
Up next
It will be IUP's 19th all-time PSAC semifinal appearance when they Crimson Hawks host West Chester (21-7) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the Kovalchick Complex. The Golden Rams are the No. 2 seed from the Eastern Division and advanced with an 89-72 win over Shippensburg in Wednesday's quarterfinals. These two teams matched up December 18 with IUP winning 80-75. West Chester then went on a 15-game win streak that ended in late February.
 
The winner will advance to Sunday's PSAC Championship Game and face the winner of Mercyhurst and East Stroudsburg. Tipoff for that game is 3 p.m.
 
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Men's Basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.