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Box Score
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Photo Gallery
CALIFORNIA (Feb. 17) – The California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team dropped two games back of fourth place in the league standings following a 74-52 loss to rival No. 11 IUP on Wednesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West action at Hamer Hall.
The Vulcans, who entered the night on a four-game winning streak, fall to 16-10 overall this season with a 4-7 mark in league play. With three games left in the regular season, Cal U needs to move up two games in the standings to avoid missing its second-straight PSAC Tournament. Meanwhile, IUP improved to 21-2 this year and clinched at least a share of the PSAC West crown.
In the loss, junior forward
Andrew Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Cheltenham) scored a team-high 14 points and senior guard
Jerial Nixon (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain Admiral King) added 11 points and five assists. Junior guard
Joe Berenato (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) and sophomore forward
Kelsey Williams (Sandusky, Ohio/Sandusky) both posted nine points with Williams collecting a team-high seven rebounds.
With nearly eight minutes left in the first half, the Vulcans led 15-14 after a jumper by
Kelsey Williams. However, Cal U failed to make a field goal for over six-plus minutes as IUP mounted an 18-1 rally to take a 32-16 lead with 1:42 left before the break.
After trailing 34-18 at halftime, Cal U cut the deficit to 11 points, 36-22, in the opening minutes of the second half. However, the Crimson Hawks led by double-digits for the remainder of the game. In the second half, IUP shot over 55 percent from the field but managed to only outscore Cal U by six points.
For the game, the Crimson Hawks shot 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from the field and 42.9 percent (6-of-14) from beyond the arc. In comparison, the Vulcans made 35.8 percent (19-of-53) of their shots and 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from three-point territory.
Junior forward Darryl Webb posted game-high totals of 17 points and eight rebounds, while senior forward Akida McLain added 16 points and six rebounds.
IUP out-rebounded Cal U by a 39-27 margin with each team collecting 10 offensive rebounds. In the loss, the Vulcans forced 17 turnovers and collected eight steals.
Cal U will host its final game of the season on Saturday, Feb. 20, facing Edinboro on Alumni & Senior Day at 7 p.m. Earlier this year, the Fighting Scots claimed a 79-72 victory over the Vulcans.
