No. 1 seed Point Park gets past No. 9 IU East, advances to RSC Championship semifinals

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 seed Point Park University is going to the River States Conference Championship semifinals after Wednesday night's 86-85 home win over No. 9 IU East in the quarterfinals.

The Pioneers (27-2) advanced thanks to Jalen Stamps going coast to coast with 5.9 seconds left to produce a game-winning layup with one second left. IU East (12-18) did not get a shot off and was eliminated. 

Stamps, a senior point guard from Indianapolis, Ind., led Point Park with 25 points and six assists. It was a big night for Stamps, who surpassed the 2,000-career points milestone. He now has 2,008 for his career and with 1,141 at Point Park.

Nazareth Fisher had 14 points and a career-high 19 rebounds off the Point Park bench as he continued his recent surge into the playoffs. Nathaniel Van with 16 points and a couple of 3-pointers, Jo Valrie with 11 and Jordan Stowe another 12 off the bench put the Pioneers into the semis.

Point Park will host No. 4 seed WVU Tech (18-9) in the RSC Championship semifinals on Saturday, March 2. Tipoff is 3:00 p.m. at CCAC-Allegheny. It will be the second meeting in eight days with the Pioneers beating the Golden Bears at home Feb. 23 by a score of 83-77.

Point Park led for all but about five seconds of Wednesday's playoff opener versus IU East. The Red Wolves took their first lead at 85-84 on Devon Woods' jumper with 5.9 seconds left. 

The Pioneers called timeout and set up the play for Stamps. He received a pass on the run, raced up the right sideline, blew by several defenders, tight-roped the baseline and put in a strong layup with 1 second left. The IU East players were a bit stunned, and with no timeouts, the Red Wolves did not get off much of a look at a go-ahead try. 

Going back to the start of the game, it was all Pioneers early. A drive and trey by Valrie had the Pioneers up 5-0 after less than 30 seconds. Point Park got out to a 14-4 lead with all five starters having scored in the first couple of minutes.

IU East got back into it down 18-14 a few moments later. Then Point Park got on a big run of 16-4 to take their biggest lead of the night, 34-18, at the 9:38 mark of the first half. A trey by Van, and fast-break points from Valrie and Stowe highlighted the spurt. 

Point Park was still up by 14 at the under-5:00 media timeout. But the Red Wolves cut that almost in half to pull within 50-42 by halftime. 

IU East's top two performers were Ibra Athie with 25 points and 18 rebounds and Colt Meyer with 20 points and three treys. Those two kept the Red Wolves in it until the end with Point Park unable to pull away. 

Point Park was looking like it might run away with Fisher scoring an inside basket for a 61-49 lead early in the second half. Or on Stamps' basket and free throw for a 72-61 advantage with 10:35 left. 

The Red Wolves followed with a 13-4 run to pull within 76-74. Point Park scored the next two baskets with Van and Fisher delivering. Only to have the Red Wolves score the next six points to knot things up a 80-80 with 3:56 left. 

Stowe answered with a big 3-pointer for an 83-80 lead on the next trip. Then both teams began to misfire leaving the Pioneers clinging to the lead. 

Point Park left the door open late for Meyer to knock down a big 3-pointer, which allowed Woods' late jumper to put the Red Wolves on top for the first time. But that was the only and last lead for IU East. 

Point Park is back in the RSC Championship semifinals for the second year in a row and the third time in four years. It is the Pioneers' fifth trip to the final four of the conference in the 11 years in the league. The Pioneers, who moved up two spots to No. 15 in the NAIA Top 25 Poll released a few hours before the game, are already in the NAIA National Championship as RSC regular-season champs.