EDINBORO, Pa. - Junior guard Armoni Foster scored 32 points and dished out eight assists to lead the No. 3 IUP men's basketball team to an 83-71 victory at Edinboro Wednesday night. 

The win was the eighth straight for the Crimson Hawks, who improved to 23-2 overall and tightened their grip in the PSAC West with a 17-2 conference record. The Hawks entered the game as the top-ranked team in the Atlantic Region as the NCAA released its initial Division II tournament seeds earlier in the afternoon. 

How it happened
Despite the 13-point victory, Edinboro kept the game close throughout, even holding several leads during the first half. 

The Hawks used a 10-0 run to open up an eight point lead at 22-14 at the 6:57 mark, with Foster scoring six points on the run. After the Fighting Scots cut the IUP lead to three points two minutes later, the Hawks reeled off seven straight points to take its only double-digit lead of the first half at 34-24.

Edinboro cut the deficit to two points early in the second half before buckets by junior guard Dave Morris, sophomore forward Ethan Porterfield, and redshirt freshman guard Bryce Radford extended IUP's lead back to nine at 54-45 with 12:11 to go. 

Again the Fighting Scots came back to make it a 61-60 game with 6:20 to play. A layup-and-one by Foster opened up a 13-4 run and double-figure lead with under four minutes to play. IUP held onto a comfortable lead the rest of the way with Foster and Morris knocking down free throws in the closing minutes to wrap up the win.

Edinboro outshot and outrebounded IUP, but the Hawks turned the ball over just nine times and knocked down 11 3-pointers to close the difference. 

Who stood out
Foster shot 11-of-24 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, and went 8-of-10 at the foul line. He added two steals and a block in 40 minutes. It was Foster's third 30-point game of the season.

Freshman forward Tomiwa Sulaiman had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, adding four steals. Morris had 14 points and eight boards and Porterfield added 12 points. 

Notes
IUP entered the game ranked No. 3 in the NABC Coaches and No. 2 in the D2SIDA Media Top 25 polls ... IUP was also the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Atlantic Region rankings reveal ... This was IUP's sixth straight regular season sweep of Edinboro, also winning 76-67 back on Jan. 26 ... IUP head coach Joe Lombardi is 25-8 all-time against Edinboro, including 25 wins in the last 27 games ... It was IUP's sixth straight win at McComb Fieldhouse ... IUP is 71-6 in PSAC West games since the 2016-17 season, including 36-4 on the road ... Foster is 14th in IUP history with 1,417 career points. 

Up next
The Crimson Hawks are at home for the final three games of the regular season, starting Saturday against Seton Hill (3-21, 3-16 PSAC). Tipoff is 7:30 p.m.

A win on Saturday would clinch at least a share of the PSAC West regular season title. 

Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Men's Basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.