Point Park men battle IUP in exhibition loss, enter final exams week to finish off semester

INDIANA, Pa. -- Point Park University men's basketball battled NCAA Division II power IUP on Sunday but absorbed a 74-64 loss in an exhibition contest for the Pioneers. It's the end of the fall semester, and the Pioneers take their 10-0 regular-season record into final exams before picking things back up at the end of this coming week. 

LEADERS AT IUP:

Jo Valrie scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to get his double-double average in the game at IUP. That powered Point Park to a 21-5 lead at the 9:49 mark of the first half. Jalen Stamps hit two 3-pointers in a row on his way to 11 points to establish that 16-point lead.

Jamisen Smith added 14 points and a pair of treys for the Pioneers, who were within 67-62 with 2:58 remaining before the Crimson Hawks cliched the game at the end. Jags Jhawar contributed nine points and 10 rebounds for Point Park.

FIRST-HALF TRENDS:

IUP scored the first basket of the game before Point Park went on a 21-3 run. IUP shot 2 for 20 from the field during that time as the Pioneers held the lead for 14 minutes and 19 seconds. 

But IUP went on a big run of its own led by Akron transfer Garvin Clarke, a point guard who had 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as well as standout forward Ethan Porterfield with 17 points, 13 rebounds and five treys on the day. Dallis Dillard added 21 points as that trio powered IUP past the Pioneers. 

REBOUNDING & DEFENSE:

Point Park, the No. 1 rebounding team in the NAIA, beat the Crimson Hawks on the boards, 49-44. That included 17 offensive rebounds, of which the Pioneers turned that into a 19-10 advantage in second-chance points. That was cancelled out with IUP leading 12-2 in points off turnovers. 

The Pioneers held IUP to 38-percent shooting -- just above their 37.1-percent field-goal defense for the year, which ranks fifth in the NAIA -- but they shot only 34 percent on their own. 

Trailing by 16, IUP tightened up the defense and started to hit some shots to go on their first-half run. The Crimson Hawks took a 34-29 lead into the halftime locker room. Porterfield, who started the game 0 for 9 from the field, hit 6 of 11 from there, including his five treys. 

SECOND-HALF TRENDS:

Stamps fed Jhawar for an inside basket to pull the Pioneers within 47-37 at the under 16 media timeout of the second half. That started a 7-0 run for Point Park, a run that was finished off by Nazareth Fisher on an old-fashioned 3-point play. That brought the Pioneers within 47-42 with Jordan Stowe providing the assist on the basket. 

IUP had its biggest lead of the day at 13 points at 59-46 with 9:15 left. Point Park did not go away, however, scoring seven points in a row to pull within 59-53 at 6:06. That run had a trey from Valrie, Stowe setting up Fisher for a transition layup and Stowe putting back a missed shot. 

IUP bumped it back to a 12-point lead only to have Smith hit a couple of 3-pointers in a row and Jhawar score on a putback to make it a 67-62 game at the 2:58 mark. But then the Crimson Hawks clinched the game with Clarke hitting an outside jumper and Dillard making a second-chance trey to put the game away, 72-62. 

EXHIBITION GAMES:

The NAIA limits teams to 28 countable games. In order to play the maximum of 30 games overall, Point Park scheduled two exhibition games this year. The Pioneers had their other exhibition at Robert Morris on Nov. 9 leading for 18 minutes and by 10 in the second half before falling, 66-56.

BACK TO BACK:

Point Park was playing for the second day in a row coming off a 98-69 home win over Alice Lloyd (Ky.) in a River States Conference game on Saturday. Stamps did not play the final 9:52 of Sunday's exhibition, and Valrie was on the bench for the final 5:15. 

NEXT UP:

The Pioneers have three more games before the 2023 calendar year is through. That begins Thursday night, Dec. 14 versus Wilberforce (Ohio). The NAIA non-conference matchup tips off at 7:00 p.m. after final exam week is over. Point Park hosts Cleary (Mich.) on Dec. 19 and Northwestern Ohio on Dec. 30 for another pair of NAIA games to close out the year.