BOX SCORE

PHOTO GALLERY (Courtesy of Sherri Fillingham)

(WEST LIBERTY, WV) Indiana University of Pennsylvania fell into a 14-point hole in the opening seven minutes of the game before the trio of Ashton Smith, Julian Sanders and Scooter Renkin rallied the Crimson Hawks to a 94-81 win over Bowie State University in the semifinals of the NCAA Atlantic Region.

“I'm really proud of my basketball team and happy for the opportunity to be here (NCAA's)”, said second year Bowie State coach Darrell Brooks. “We lost to a very good and experienced basketball team that reached the Division II finals last season, and they understand this regional tournament and hopefully our young team will learn from this experience and be back here next year.”

The Bulldogs made four 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the game and built an 18-4 lead on a steal by junior Darren Clark (Largo, MD, Largo, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania) with 13:22 left in the half. Ashton Smith hit a jumper on IUP's first shot attempt of the game, but the Crimson Hawks missed four shots and committed six turnovers as the Bulldogs surged ahead.

Renkin got the Crimson Hawks comeback started when he converted a steal into a layup and was fouled, making the free throw for a three-point play. Smith made three buckets, including a 3-pointer, and Willi Estrella made two free throws at the 10:22 mark to cap a 14-2 run that pulled IUP within 20-16.

Bowie State (26-3) held a 30-27 lead, but triples by Smith and Julian Sanders put the Crimson Hawks in front 33-30. Scooter Renkin scored seven straight points and his 3-pointer with 2:44 remaining in the first half made it a 40-34 Indiana (PA) lead. The Crimson Hawks strolled into halftime with a 46-40 advantage.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania (26-5) shot 57 percent from the field in the first half, hitting 17-of-30, which included five-of nine beyond the arc.

Bowie State hit 48 percent of its first period field goals (15-of-31), which included six-of-11 behind the 3-point line.

The Crimson Hawks used the long ball to get back in the game and eventually pulled away from Bowie State. IUP was red hot from 3-point distance, connecting on 13-of-19 (68 percent), 60 percent overall from the field and 23-of-26 (89 percent) from the charity stripe.

“When a team puts up those kind of numbers, you're not going to win a basketball game and it wouldn't surprise me to see them (IUP) when a national championship”, said Brooks.

Sanders and Smith hit 3-pointers on consecutive IUP possessions to make it 78-69 with 6:09 left in the game, and Darryl Webb along with Kevin Stewart also dialed up 3-pointers on back-to-back shots with the latter giving the Crimson Hawks their first double digit lead of the game at 84-72 with 4:04 remaining. Webb scored nine points over the final 4:35 and IUP made all six of its free throw attempts in the final minute to secure the win.

Smith scored a game-high 24 points, Sanders had 22 and Renkin added 14 points to lead five Crimson Hawks in double figures.

Clark led Bowie State's Bulldogs with 20 points followed by senior Eric Vann (Clinton, MD, Gwynn Park, Prince George's C.C.) with 15. Junior Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, MD, Bishop McNamara, Virginia Commonwealth University) and sophomore Bryan Wilson (Upper Marlboro, MD, Riverdale Baptist School) chipped in a dozen points each in the season ending loss.

Brooks closed the post game press conference by saying, “We bring everybody back except for (Eric) Vann and firmly believe we have the blocks in place to build a really good program.”