NORTH CANTON, Ohio – Junior forward
Ethan Porterfield scored his 1,000th career point as the third-ranked IUP men's basketball team stayed undefeated with a 74-60 wire-to-wire road win at Walsh on Saturday afternoon.
Porterfield reached 1,000 career points with a pull-up triple in the second half, accounting for the opening points of the frame. He became the 36th player in program history to reach the milestone, needing just 11 points entering the contest and reaching it in the 73rd game of his career. The 1,000 points also considers the three contests played during the limited 2021-22 season.
IUP (4-0) challenged itself with a tough nonconference game against Walsh (2-2), which earned the top seed in the NCAA DII Midwest Region a season ago. Despite a sloppy stretch near the end of the game, IUP was in control throughout the day. The Crimson Hawks were tough on the defensive end and put an increased emphasis on rebounding in the contest, using a balanced approach on offense for the team's fourth win of the season.
Shawndale Jones dropped in a game and season-high 26 points (9-9 FT) with five rebounds and four assists.
Dave Morris posted 20 points and tied a game-high eight rebounds, also passing out four assists. Porterfield and
Tomiwa Sulaiman logged 11 points apiece for the Crimson Hawks, who assisted on 19 of 27 field goals.
Tim Smith Jr., who began his collegiate playing career at California (Pa.) in 2019-20, provided most of the Walsh offense on the day with 24 points and eight rebounds. The Cavaliers were without sophomore standout Garrison Keeslar, who led the team in rebounding, assists and steals entering the game. The Cavaleirs are ranked 20th in the NABC Preseason Poll.
IUP closed the contest shooting 50% from the floor, holding Walsh to 35.7% from the field and 21.7% from three. The Crimson Hawks have held all four opponents to 40% or less from the field this season.
IUP took a 36-19 lead into the intermission, holding Walsh without an assist and just six field goals through the opening 20 minutes. The Crimson Hawks improved in the rebounding department, limiting any Walsh second-chance opportunities and holding a 21-15 edge on the glass and shooting 44.8% from the field in the first half.
Morris started off strong with eight of the initial 10 points for IUP on the afternoon. Jones started to get into a rhythm in a balanced opening half for the Crimson Hawks, firing in six consecutive and stretching the IUP advantage to 19-7.
The scoring balanced continued for IUP as Sulaiman dropped in consecutive buckets for a 20-point advantage around the under-four media timeout. Smith Jr. accounted for nine points in the opening half and four of the team's six made field goals.
Walsh made a quick run about five minutes into the second half that Morris put a stop to with a three-point basket and a transition dunk off a steal from Sulaiman. In a hurry, the Crimson Hawks increased the advantage to 53-31 at the 13:25 mark.
Jones handed IUP its largest lead of the game at 26 points with a triple with 8:52 remaining.
Jaheim Bethea charged in for a layin and his first basket of the contest as IUP continued pulling away before Morris added an acrobatic bucket for his 26th point of the day.
Walsh used some strong rebounding as part of a 11-0 run as the clock ticked under three minutes remaining. Sulaiman ended a scoring drought of nearly five minutes with a stickback for the Crimson Hawks as time melted away.
Up Next
IUP hosts New Haven on Saturday, November 26 with a new 4:30 p.m. start time at the KCAC.
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Men's Basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.
