INDIANA, Pa. (March 1) – Despite trailing by just one point at halftime, the Vulcans suffered an 85-76 loss to No. 3 IUP in the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament at the KCAC on Wednesday night.
With the loss, the California (PA) men's basketball team finishes the year with a 16-14 overall record behind a six-game winning streak late in the regular season. The Vulcans have won at least 16 games in three-straight years for the first time since 2006-08. Meanwhile, the three-time, defending-PSAC Champion Crimson Hawks improve to 28-1 this season and advance to face East Stroudsburg in the semifinals on Saturday, March 4, with the final fou being hosted by Shippensburg.
Redshirt freshman
Donald Whitehead, Jr. (Hermitage, Pa./Hickory) paced the team with 19 points off the bench. He shot 9-of-11 from the free-throw line and added two assists while playing 28 minutes.
Redshirt junior
Jermaine Hall, Jr. (Baltimore, Md./Severn School) finished with 17 points, as he shot 7-of-13 from the floor, eight rebounds and two assists. Freshman
KJ McClurg (Morgantown, W.Va./University) notched 15 points and four rebounds, while sophomore
Keith Palek III (Woodbine, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) posted 15 points, four rebounds and three steals.
Cal held IUP scoreless for the initial three minutes of the game, as it held an 8-0 lead. The teams went on to split the following 12 points, as the Vulcans maintained an eight-point lead, 14-6, at the 14:08-mark. The Crimson Hawks answered by scoring nine-consecutive points to claim their first lead of the game, 15-14. Over the next seven minutes, IUP executed a slight 9-6 rally to stretch its advantage to 24-20 followed by the teams trading the next eight points with IUP leading 28-24 with 3:55 to play in the half. In the final seconds of the first half, Whitehead connected on a trio of free-throws to cut the Crimson Hawk advantage to 33-32 at the break.
IUP opened the second half on a 17-8 run, as it grasped its first double-figure lead at 50-40 after a three-pointer from Dave Morris. The Crimson Hawks stretched the lead to 14 points with 6:05 remaining in the game, 66-52. The team exchanged the following 12 points and IUP still led by a 14-point margin, 72-58. While trailing 83-69 with 1:10 to play, Cal went on a 7-2 rally to trim the deficit to 85-76 in the final seconds.
The Vulcans shot 42.1 percent (24-of-57) from the field while going 8-of-25 (32.0 percent) from three-point territory and converted 20-of-27 attempts (74.1 percent) from the charity stripe. The Crimson Hawks shot at a .492 clip (29-of-59) from the floor, including 7-of-22 from long range, and made 69.0 percent (20-of-29) mark from the free-throw line. IUP held a 43-25 rebounding edge and collected 18 assists.
The leading scorer in the PSAC, Shawndale Jones registered a game-high 22 points, six rebounds and five assists. Ethan Porterfield notched 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and one block, while Morris finished with 17 points.
