Seton Hill hosted #4 Indiana (PA) on Wednesday evening looking to knock off a top five program. The Griffins shot 60% in the first half but IUP proved just too strong down the stretch in an 85-72 win over the Griffins. SHU falls to 5-14 overall and 3-10 in PSAC play while the Crimson Hawks improve to 19-1 overall and 12-1 in PSAC play.
The Griffins jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead over the Crimson Hawks in less than three minutes on seven points from
Nathan Davis. A layin from
Brandon Alston gave the Griffins their largest lead of the game at 11-4 with 15:39 to go in the half. IUP battled back to take a 19-16 lead at the under 12 media timeout.
Back to back threes from
Trevor Blondin and Davis gave SHU the lead back at 22-19 with just over ten minutes to play. After an IUP basket,
Anthony Karabatsos drained a three to extend the lead to 25-21. The Griffins and Crimson Hawks then began to punch back after each others punches and the game would be tied three more times before Blondin and Davis again hit back to back threes to give SHU a 37-33 advantage with 3:49 to go before the half.
IUP tied the score at 39 with a three pointer with two minutes to play. Blondin put the Griffins back in front with a basket with 30 seconds left but IUP tied the score at 41 with a basket at the buzzer and the game entered the half tied at 41.
Blondin opened the second half by draining another three pointer to put SHU back in front 44-41. IUP then took a 48-46 lead before a three and layin from Davis gave SHU a 51-48 lead with 15:29 to play. Davis gave the Griffins their final lead of the game at 53-52 with 13 minutes remaining. Over the next four minutes, the Crimson Hawks began to take control of the game with a 10-0 run to take a 62-53 lead.
The Griffins had one more run in them as they were able to go on an 7-0 run and cut the IUP lead to 62-60 on a Blondin layin with 7:45 to play. The Crimson Hawks scored the next six points to push their lead to 68-60 with 5:24 left. A free throw from
Milenko Predic and a dunk from Blondin trimmed the lead to 68-63 but the Griffins would not get any closer down the stretch as IUP hit 11 of 12 free throws to close out the win.
Blondin led the Griffins with a game high 28 points. Davis finished the game with 24 points. Predic added 7.
SHU will continue their homestand on Saturday when they host Clarion at 3 PM.