INDIANA, Pa. – The IUP men's basketball team held off a rally from visiting Bloomsburg, fueled by a big second half from Garvin Clarke in a 74-71 triumph on Tuesday night at the KCAC.
 
IUP (7-3, 4-0) pushed its winning streak to six consecutive games with three scorers in double figures. Clarke poured in 19 of his 23 points in the second half, adding three assists and four rebounds in an electrifying outing for the Hawks.
 
Ethan Porterfield added 18 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double, along with three steals in his 100th career start. Porterfield pushed his career scoring total to 1,522 points, surpassing Joe DeLise (1,510) and moving to 13th in program history.
 
Porterfield and KJ Rhodes logged their 100th win as a duo on Tuesday and both were contributors in the triumph. Damir Brooks posted a career-high 15 points with five rebounds and two assists with Dallis Dillard and Jordan Lambert logging seven points each. The Hawks shot 48.3% from the floor but went 9-for-19 from the foul line in the second half.
 
Bloomsburg (2-8, 0-4) erased a 10-point deficit in the first half and an 11-point deficit in the second half, employing a pesky zone defense throughout and trimming the IUP lead to within three with just 1:30 left. Tony Henderson logged a team-high 17 points (6-12 FG) and Jake Nelson added 14 points and seven boards for the visitors.
 
IUP finished with a 38-32 edge in the rebounding department and shot 62.1% from the floor over the final 20 minutes, posting 50 points in the stanza. Bloomsburg stuck with IUP in the opening half and took a 25-24 lead at the half. IUP went cold down the stretch of the first half and struggled to get into a rhythm offensively for large stretches in an evenly played opening half.
 
With both teams settling in early, IUP zipped ahead by 10 at 14-4 on a driving basket from Clarke. The Huskies rattled off a 14-4 spurt in response to break even at 18. Bloomsburg got 11 bench points in the opening half, erasing a 10-point deficit to climb ahead 23-22 on a Raphael Castillo triple.
 
Clarke canned a timely triple for a 43-37 edge as IUP clung to a narrow advantage. With Bloomsburg closing in, Clarke flipped the momentum with a steal and fastbreak score in traffic for a 63-54 advantage.
 
KJ Rhodes pushed IUP ahead with a layup for a 65-54 edge until Bloomsburg battled back again, getting back within three on several occasions. A triple from Henderson off a steal sliced the IUP lead to 67-64 with 2:14 remaining.
 
The Huskies could not get closer than three the rest of the way as IUP iced the game at the foul line, locking in after some struggles from the stripe earlier in the night.
 
Up Next
IUP visits East Stroudsburg for a 3:00 p.m. road tipoff after the break on Saturday, December 30.
 
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP men's basketball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUP_MBB.  
 

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