INDIANA, Pa. – Malik Miller etched his name into the IUP men's basketball history books Wednesday night. The senior guard recorded the program's first triple-double in 25 years as he helped lead the eighth-ranked Crimson Hawks to an 86-67 win over Edinboro at the Kovalchick Complex.
 
Miller finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists in 36 minutes.
 
It's the first triple-double since Hall of Famer Yancey Taylor during IUP's East Region championship win over Cal U in 1995.
 
Tonight's win also locked up at least a share of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division regular season title and a first round bye in the upcoming conference tournament. With one win in the final three regular season games, IUP will clinch an outright PSAC West title and No. 1 seed in the division.
 
The Crimson Hawks won their fourth straight to improve to 22-2 overall and 17-2 in conference play.
 
Despite some early struggles with turnovers in the first half, the Crimson Hawks led for nearly the entire first half as Miller had the hot hand with a pair of 3-pointers in the first few minutes.
 
IUP used a dominant 15-0 run over 4:37 to turn a 3-point lead into an 18-point lead with just over six minutes left in the first half. Five different Hawks scored on the run with Shawndale Jones leading the way with five points.
 
After the Fighting Scots (5-18, 2-17) brought their deficit back down to 13 points, IUP ripped off a quick 11-2 run to take its biggest lead of the half as Ethan Porterfield drained a trey to make it 44-22.
 
The momentum continued to start the second half as IUP scored 11 quick points with Miller keying the action. He tallied a bucket and three assists in the first three minutes of the half as IUP continued to lead by 20 points.
 
Already in double-figures in points, Miller dished out his 10th assist on a 3-pointer by Jones with 9:25 to play to give IUP a 74-49 lead. He then clinched his triple-double by chasing down an offensive rebound out of bounds on his own miss, the hustle play eventually leading to a bucket by Armoni Foster.
 
The Hawks finished the night shooting 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the field with 11 3-pointers. They outrebounded Edinboro 34-32, forced the Fighting Scots into 20 turnovers, and had five blocked shots and 13 steals.
 
Led by Miller's 10 dimes, IUP finished with 20 assists on its 31 made buckets.
 
Who stood out
Miller. It marked his 12th 20-point game of the season as he added his triple-double to his two double-doubles from earlier this season. He's been on a hot streak over the last month, hitting 20 points in eight of his last 10 games.
 
Miller shot 8-of-16 from the field, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range, and had just one turnover.
 
He was one of four Hawks to hit double-figures in scoring Wednesday. Jones came off the bench to score 18 points on 6-of-6 field goals and 3-of-4 foul shots in 25 minutes. Foster added 16 points, going 5-of-9 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line, while Porterfield finished with 11 points and two blocks.
 
Dave Morris had eight points, four assists and three steals while Chucky Humphries had six rebounds and four steals.
 
NCAA regional rankings
Earlier in the day, the NCAA released its first set of Division II regional rankings with the Crimson Hawks taking the top spot in the Atlantic. Following IUP is Shippensburg at No. 2, West Liberty at No. 3, Fairmont State at No. 4, and Charleston at No. 5.
 
These rankings determine Division II tournament field of 64, with the top eight teams in each of the eight regions earning a postseason spot. The Crimson Hawks are looking for the program's 17th all-time NCAA tournament bid, including its 10th in 14 seasons under head coach Joe Lombardi.  
 
The NCAA Division II tournament will be announced Sunday night, March 8.
 
Notes
The Crimson Hawks entered the game ranked No. 8 in the NABC Top 25 and No. 6 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls … IUP has locked up at least a share of its fifth straight PSAC West regular season title … IUP also won five straight from 2010-14 and now at 17 total, have the most division titles in conference history … This was the 16th 80-point game of the season for the Crimson Hawks, the most in the Lombardi era … This marks IUP's fifth straight regular season sweep of Edinboro.
 
Up next
The Crimson Hawks will look to lock up the No. 1 divisional seed and the outright PSAC West title Saturday when they head to Greensburg to face Seton Hill (4-19, 3-16). Tipoff 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.