Breakdowns All Around
Better shooting can't make up for lapses in IUP's 79-75 loss at Pitt-Johnstown
JOHNSTOWN — On the bright side, the IUP Crimson Hawks broke their string of horrible shooting in the second half of road games.
On the dark side, it didn’t matter because the Hawks did so many other things poorly, particularly on defense.
IUP fell behind Pitt-Johnstown by 15 points in the first 4½ minutes and never recovered in a 79-74 loss in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference basketball game Wednesday night at the Sports Center.
“We just started off really bad,” IUP coach Joe Lombardi said. “We had so many defensive breakdowns. I don’t know what happened and got into us — just lack of communicating and confusion, and they took advantage of it. … We fought back, but we have a limited roster, and guys just really got fatigued at the end.”
IUP remained winless in eight conference road games, including five in the PSAC West. In the previous three road games, the Hawks led twice and were tied once before shooting below 30 percent in the second half.
“I’m not upset with the loss at all,” Lombardi said. “I know some things we could have done better, but every coach has that after every game. We just didn’t make shots, but I don’t want to blame it on shot-making. There are a lot of fundamentals we don’t have secured yet on both ends of the floor.”
Pitt-Johnstown made its first seven shots en route to a 19-4 lead and continuously carved up IUP’s defense for 63.3 percent shooting in the first half and 58.2 percent overall.
With the win, the Mountain Cats (11-12, 7-9 PSAC) jumped over IUP (11-12, 6-9) into sixth place in the West Division. The top six teams in the division qualify for the conference tournament. IUP has not missed the playoffs since Lombardi’s second season in 2007-08.
Pitt-Johnstown, under 36th-year coach and IUP alumnus Bob Rukavina, beat IUP for only the fourth time in the past 16 meetings and prevented the Hawks from sweeping the season series and claiming the head-to-head tiebreaker in the playoff race. IUP won at home, 84-73, on Jan. 15.
“First, let me give kudos to Pitt-Johnstown,” Lombardi said. “Over the last 15 years we’ve played a lot of times, and there are a lot of good people on that sideline like coach John Sanow, who I coached, and Ruk, who’s an IUP alum, and I tried to hire their assistant coach, Pat Grubbs. I really like those people, and they haven’t had that moment against us very often. I know it’s a special game for them, their Super Bowl for the coaching staff, and I’m sure it’s the Super Bowl for their kids. … They were ready to go. We had our way with them a little bit the first time, and they’ve been very good at home.”
After Pitt-Johnstown bolted to the big lead, IUP pulled as close as two points at 35-33 with 4½ minutes to go in the first half. The Hawks then missed their last six shots of the half and committed a turnover, fueling the Mountain Cats’ 11-1 run for a 12-point halftime lead at 46-32.
IUP cut the deficit to seven points on the first two possessions of the second half before Pitt-Johnstown stretched the lead to its widest margin, 19 points at 68-49, with 11 minutes remaining.
The Hawks chopped the margin to eight with 5:49 to go and missed shots on the next two possessions with the chance to get closer. After that, Pitt-Johnstown kept the margin at three or four possessions going into the final 29 seconds.
IUP shot 42.4 percent, going 14-for-33 in each half. Christian Moore scored 17 points, Tyler Grove finished with 15, Damir Brooks had 14 and Kymani Merraro chipped in 10 points to go with six assists.
Pitt-Johnstown’s Ryan Smith, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, scored 12 of his team’s first 15 points of the game and eight of its first 10 in the second half. He finished with 23 on 10-for-15 shooting.
Smith has averaged 26.0 points per game in his past four outings, raising his season average to 17.5. He has scored 20 or more in eight of the past 12 games.
“Ryan Smith might be the best offensive player in the league,” Lombardi said. “We didn’t find him early on and he got going and we got in a big hole.”
Sophomore forward Baden Forup posted a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, and sophomore guard Adam Bilinsky scored 16 points.
Point guard Sean Dillon, a Seton Hill transfer in his fifth season, had seven assists and one turnover.
“He played like a veteran,” Lombardi said, “and then you’ve got Ryan Smith, who averaged nine and nine and last year 14 and this year 18. That’s called growth and development. I think if you asked Ryan, he’d tell you he’s a better player now, a smarter player, a more emotionally mature and physically mature and mentally mature player than he was four years ago. And they’ve done a good job coaching him and a good job developing him.”
Lombardi has done a commendable job coaching and developing players over the years, too, while stacking up 428 wins, seven conference championships and three region titles in 19 seasons. He hopes to have the same impact on this group, which includes three freshmen, six new players in an eight-man rotation and no seniors.
“All I can do,” Lombardi said, “is take these young men and try to get them better from every experience we have and keep loving them and hope they grow and look forward to the time when they learn and go from freshmen to sophomores and sophomores to juniors. They all try so I can’t get upset with anybody when they don’t play like we need to play to win. That’s just the reality of it now.
“There are a lot of lessons there tonight. (Pitt-Johnstown) did some great things. They cut without the ball really well and moved the ball really well, and we need to do some of those things on offense better. And they communicate really well on defense, and we need to continue to grow and work in that area.”
IUP has five games remaining in the regular season. The PSAC West race remains tight, with the three teams above IUP in fourth through sixth place — Seton Hill (14-10, 7-9), Pitt-Johnstown and Slippery Rock (11-13, 7-9) — checking in with one more win and the same number of losses. Clarion (11-12, 6-11) is eighth.
Gannon clinched the division title with Wednesday’s 84-59 romp over Slippery Rock. California (15-10, 9-7) is second, and Edinboro (13-1, 9-7) is third.
“These guys are learning,” Lombardi said. “It’s a rebuilding project we’ve been on from Day One. I don’t know if anyone else had visions of grandeur going on. There’s no miracle going on. I’m not a miracle worker, and I needed to perform one this year.”
IUP plays host to Edinboro in its annual “Faith Day” game Saturday afternoon. The Hawks lost at Edinboro by 16 points, 81-65, on Jan. 6.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” Lombardi said. “Edinboro is one of the top two or three teams in the league, so we’ll see how that goes.”
WEDNESDAY’S BOX SCORE
IUP (11-12)
Brooks 7-14 0-1 14, Grove 6-11 0-0 15, Merraro 4-8 2-3 10, Moore 5-15 2-2 17, Furtun 0-1 0-0 0, Herring 3-9 2-2 8, Pickens 0-2 1-2 1, Triggs 3-6 2-2 9, Totals 28-66 (.424) 9-12 (.750) 74
Pitt-Johnstown (11-12)
Forup 8-13 1-1 17, Dillon 0-2 0-0 0, A.Bilinsky 5-5 4-6 16, Kromka 3-5 0-0 7, Smith 10-15 1-4 23, Rose 3-8 3-3 9, Watts 1-2 0-0 2, Cugini 1-3 0-0 2, Sechler 1-2 0-0 3, Totals 32-55 (.582) 9-14 (.643) 79
Halftime — Pitt-Johnstown, 46-34. 3-point field goals — IUP 9-27 (Brooks 0-1, Merraro 0-2, Moore 5-12, Herring 0-4, Pickens 0-1, Triggs 1-1), Pitt-Johnstown 6-15 (Dillon 0-1, A.Bilinsky 2-2, Kromka 1-2, Smith 2-5, Rose 0-3, Sechler 1-2). Rebounds — IUP 31 (Brooks 7), Pitt-Johnstown 34 (Forup 11). Assists — IUP 13 (Merraro 6), Pitt-Johnstown 21 (Dillon 7). Turnovers — IUP 10, Pitt-Johnstown 12. Total fouls — IUP 16, Pitt-Johnstown 17. Fouled out — Furtun.
WEDNESDAY’S PSAC GAMES
West
Pitt-Johnstown 79, IUP 74
California 73, Clarion 71
Gannon 84, Slippery Rock 59
East
East Stroudsburg 90, Bloomsburg 60
Mansfield 95, Lock Haven 90
Millersville 73, Kutztown 60
Shippensburg 85, West Chester 81
SATURDAY’S PSAC GAMES
Games at 3 p.m.
West
Edinboro at IUP
Gannon at Clarion
Slippery Rock at Pitt-Johnstown
East
Kutztown at Bloomsburg
Mansfield at Millersville
Shepherd at Lock Haven
Shippensburg at East Stroudsburg
