INDIANA, Pa. - The Bowie State Bulldogs (0-3) erased a 17-point first half deficit and closed to within three early in the second half, but it was not enough as the team took a 78-65 loss on the road at #8 Indiana (Pa.) (3-0), Wednesday evening. The 0-3 start for Bowie State is the first since the 2012-2013 season when the Bulldogs began the campaign losing its first five games.
Bowie State shot early season-lows 36 percent from the field (24-of-66) and 61 percent (11-of-18) at the charity stripe, but the Bulldogs did out-rebounded IUP 42-34.
Saiquan Jamison fell just shy of a double-double, hauling down a game-high 14 rebounds to go along with nine points. Keith Duffin had a solid game as well, scoring a team-high 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor and added five rebounds and tied for game-high steals with four.
David Belle and
Yohance Fleming chipped in nine points each on a combined 5-of-25 shooting from the field while
Juwun Smith contributed seven points and a team-high three assists.
The lead changed hands seven times, all in the first nine minutes of the contest, before the Crimson Hawks' Jacobo Diaz hit a jumper at the 10:42 mark, breaking an 11-all tie. From that points IUP went on a 10-0 to take a 21-11 advantage over the next 2:36.
Indiana (Pa.) maintained its double-digit lead until Bowie State's Cameron Knox drilled a triple with 46 second remaining in the first half to send the Bulldogs into intermission trailing 40-33.
Bowie State opened the second half with 14-4 burst to narrow the deficit to 47-44 at the 15:35 mark. During that run, BSU's Duffin was responsible for six of the Bulldogs points.
However, IUP answered with an 11-6 run to push the Crimson Hawks lead back up to double figures at 58-48 which is as close as the Bulldogs would get for the rest of the evening.
Diaz was the offensive leader for Indiana (Pa.) recording a game-high 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting and hauling down 13 rebounds. Three other Crimson Hawks players scored in double figures as Dante Lombardi netted 18 points and dished out a game-high eight assists. Malik Miller scored 12 points to go along with a half dozen rebounds and a pair of assists, blocks and steals.
Indiana (Pa.) hit a 48 percent clip over 40 minutes, hitting 28-of-58 from the field, which included 9-of-25 (36 percent) beyond the arc and the Crimson Hawks converted 13-of-18 free throws (72 percent).
Bowie State will look to earn its first win of the season on Saturday (11/17) as the Bulldogs will make its home debut, hosting Bloomfield College at 7 p.m.
