CALIFORNIA (Jan. 10) – The Vulcans were unable to overcome an early run by No. 20 IUP on Saturday afternoon, suffering a 69-45 loss in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West play at the Convocation Center.

With the loss, the California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team falls to 11-5 overall with a 7-4 record in league action. Meanwhile, IUP extends its league-best winning streak to seven games and improves to 14-2 this season behind an 8-2 mark in conference play.

Junior guard Drew Cook (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Falls) scored a career-high 16 points and was the lone player to finish in double-digits. He made five-of-seven shots from the floor, including three-of-five from beyond the arc, and three-of-three attempts from the free-throw line.

Fellow junior Richard Smith (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran East) posted eight points and was held to a season-low two rebounds after averaging over nine rebounds per game. Classmate Calvin Brown (Trevose, Pa./Bensalem) finished with seven points and three rebounds and freshman Daniel Sapp (Streetsboro, Ohio/Streetsboro) added five points and a team-high 10 rebounds off the bench.

The Vulcans scored the opening basket of the game before the Crimson Hawks scored 20-unanswered points. Cal U was held scoreless for nearly 10 minutes after missing all eight shots from the field and committing seven turnovers. The Vulcans worked the deficit down to 27-14 with 4:39 left in the first half on back-to-back three-pointers by Cook before both teams were scoreless for over two minutes. IUP eventually took a 32-16 lead into halftime after a last-second basket was waived off after video review.

The teams traded baskets for the opening five minutes of the second half before IUP mounted a 16-7 run to take a 57-32 lead with 8:03 remaining. The Vulcans then posted a 7-3 run to cut the deficit to 60-39 at the 5:29-mark before the Crimson Hawks countered with seven-straight points to take their largest lead of the game at 67-39 with 3:25 left to play.

The Vulcans finished the game shooting 34.0 percent (16-of-47) from the floor after making only six field-goals in the first half and converted 76.9 percent (10-of-13) from the free-throw line. Cal U was without three-year starter Jake Jacubec (Struthers, Ohio/Struthers), who missed the first game of his college career. Meanwhile, the Crimson Hawks shot at a 39.3 clip (24-of-61) from the field with 13 three-pointers. IUP held a dominating 43-28 rebounding advantage behind 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 11 second-chance points.

Junior Brandon Norfleet scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added six rebounds and three assists. Graduate student Shawn Dyer posted 16 points and five rebounds, while senior Devante Chance finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The Vulcans are idle for a week before returning to action on Jan. 17 when they travel to face Seton Hill in nearby Greensburg, Pennsylvania, at 3 p.m.