Early Bird Special Saturday ... all 3 p.m. starts. Nonetheless, this is a good lineup.
IUP at Mercyhurst - It sure doesn't feel like it, but IUP has won 9 of the past 11 in this series -- including 3 straight in the MAC. Of course, the Lakers won a pretty big one last year. IUP won the first meeting this season, 71-56. That game featured one of the most amazing 45-second sequences you'll ever see in Chucky Humpries' three massive blocks on three straight possessions. Fast forward and Chucky will be in street clothes for this one. Advantage: Mercyhurst. IUP clobbered the Lakers on the glass last month. Tomorrow will be much more challenging with a very short-handed lineup. The Lakers were in kind of a funk prior to hammering slump-ending Edinboro. In years past this was a tough environment for IUP. However, with the Lombardi All-D10 team, it should feel like a quasi-home game tomorrow. The David Morris Show travels well in Erie. Round 2 will be closer but IUP, even sans Chucky, should pull this one out. It's absolutely imperative, however, for Ethan Porterfield to stay clean. If he doesn't, the winning streak could end. IUP leaves the booze-filled MAC Gymnasium/Stage/Theater/Bar/Cafeteria with a close win. Crimson Hawks -6
Pitt-Johnstown at Gannon - The Mountain Cats stole the first meeting in Johnstown -- hitting a walk-off trey that came from a deflected scrum. The Golden Knights are playing their best basketball of the season and have won two straight (easily could - should - have won four straight). UPJ is coming off two blowout wins against bottom feeders. Gannon shot a sizzling 10-14 from deep in the first meeting and over 50 percent from the field. It will take another strong shooting day for the Knights to keep up with UPJ. Frank Webb Jr. torched the Mountain Cats for 27 points. Conversely, UPJ star guard Josh Wise is fully back from his injury. He played just 22 minutes in the first game. UPJ is much different with him on the floor -- and he's playing well as of late. Look for the Knights to put up a good fight, but UPJ is just a better overall team. Mountains Cats escape the Hammermill. UPJ -3
East Stroudsburg at Shippensburg - The East race is well over, but this is still a key game for both teams. Shippensburg needs to keep winning as it still has hopes of perhaps hosting the Atlantic Regional. The Warriors are on the back-end of the NCAA Bubble -- but technically still alive. This would be a huge resume win. Perhaps most importantly, however, ESU needs to secure a Round 1 home game in the PSAC Tournament. The first meeting this year was pretty close. The Red Raiders pulled out a tough, 71-66, road win. The teams have split the past 6 games in the series. However, ESU has lost its past 5 trips to Heiges Field House. Tomorrow, the Heiges losing streak will grow another game. Close for 35 minutes. Red Raiders pull it out. Ship -7
Slippery Rock at California - The first meeting ended in controversy -- and a 94-93 California win inside Morrow Field House. The Vulcans are a hot team - winners of three straight. The Rock has won 2 of its past 3 outings, but has looked horrible in its past two. SRU survived a bad Edinboro team and got blown out by 20 points in a home loss to Gannon. The Rock's offense has struggled against the better defensive teams in the West. Cal isn't one of those teams. That bodes well for SRU tomorrow. It better, too, because the Vulcans can score the ball. The Rock has a huge size advantage in this game and its guards match-up fairly well. They have to exploit the glass and limit turnovers. Slippery Rock shot horrendously in the GU loss. Look for the ball to find the net better tomorrow. It will be a tight game, but Cal pulls it out inside Hamer Hall. Vulcans -5
Shepherd at Lock Haven - Both are 5-9 in conference play. As of now, one of them will prepare for the banquet at the conclusion of the regular season. This might as well be a play-in game. Lock Haven won in Shepherdstown, 73-72. Logic would say if they won on the road they should win at home. Basketball is an illogical sport. The Rams get a big win in front of 9 screaming fans. Shepherd -4
Bloomsburg at Millersville - The Huskies have lost 5 of their past 6 games. The Marauders are finally playing well. The 'Ville wins this one. Big. Millersville -14
Mansfield at West Chester - If this one doesn't snap the losing skid, ... nothing will. Rams -7
Seton Hill at Clarion - The Golden Eagles are showing life. Clarion played well in road losses at both IUP and California. Now it's time to cash in with a win. Seton Hill, despite a dreadful season and a current 6 losses in 7 games, plays hard. The Griffins have (9) true freshmen on the roster. Several of them show a lot of promise. If Nathan Davis has one of those big Nathan Davis games, Seton Hill can leave Tippin with a win. The Griffins won the first meeting, but Clarion is a much better team now due to a roster addition and some players getting healthy. If the Golden Eagles can win and SRU loses at Cal, the door isn't completely shut on the conference tournament. Golden Eagles -3
Idle: Edinboro
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Gannon was up by 11 with five minutes remaining. To your point, it was 40-34 with 10:30 left, but Gannon was also down 27-16 before Matt Johnson hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half, meaning that GU had already outscored Rock 24-7 in just over 10 minutes. Gannon continued to pour it on, closing the game on a 29-15 run for the 20-point margin. GU outscored Rock 53-22 in the final 20:10 of the game.Originally posted by bballfan03 View PostLeave a comment:
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Even better because I was in bed!Originally posted by IUPalum View PostLeave a comment:
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They're probably trying to run the stream through wifi instead of a hard wire using Ethernet. Common Gen Z misunderstanding of the capabilities of wifi.Originally posted by IUPbigINDIANS View PostLeave a comment:
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While I always try to be nice, decent refers to the fact that a couple weeks down the road they will likely be playing in the PSAC tourney with a puncher's chance of advancing. Although things have been going according to plan for my VULCANS the next three versus SRU, @UPJ and IUP can drastically alter the standings. At this time only IUP and maybe UPJ actually have a good idea where they'll be playing at that point. Time will tell.Originally posted by bballfan03 View PostLeave a comment:
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Updated MEN'S Standings
WEST PSAC OVERALL STREAK IUP 13-1 18-1 W9 Pitt-Johnstown 11-3 17-4 W2 California 10-4 14-6 W3 Mercyhurst 9-5 11-7 W1 Gannon 8-6 9-9 W2 Slippery Rock 6-8 10-10 L1 Clarion 3-11 4-16 L2 Edinboro 2-12 5-13 L9 Seton Hill 2-12 3-14 L2 EAST PSAC OVERALL STREAK Shippensburg 13-1 17-3 W10 West Chester 8-6 14-6 L5 Millersville 8-6 11-9 W3 East Stroudsburg 7-7 11-8 W1 Kutztown 7-7 9-11 W1 Shepherd 5-9 9-11 L1 Lock Haven 5-9 8-10 L3 Bloomsburg 5-9 8-12 L1 Mansfield 4-10 5-14 L2 Leave a comment:
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The other problem is, from what I keep hearing, the IUP live feed has been nearly un-watchable all season. Sounds like it was a skipping and freezing mess yet again last night.Leave a comment:
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If there were adjustments, they were more in detail than player/tactics. Shots weren't falling and then started falling. And the more the shots fell, the more Rock stumbled. Rock also was mentally frustrated by Referees. A few calls that went them had all the players/staff griping. Robinson got a T after 2 calls against him.
Score is deceiving. Gannon was up like 7 with 5 mins left or so and it ballooned to 13 in 2 mins. After that, FTs and quick scores off Rock TOs were the rest of their points. Not as bad of a blowout as score indicates, but Rock was definitely quite pathetic last 10 mins of game.Leave a comment:
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