Puzzle Pieces

IUP deepens basketball roster with addition of three recruits

Joe Lombardi has all the pieces of his next puzzle.

Now it’s a matter of putting them in the right spots.

Lombardi recently wrapped up recruiting for the 2025-26 season, which will be his 20th as IUP’s basketball coach. With the top eight players returning from last season, the Crimson Hawks had few needs, but Lombardi plucked guard Tasso Sfanos off the transfer portal, signed 6-foot-9 freshman Harry Keighley out of New Zealand and added freshman guard Ralphie Blundo as a walk-on.

In addition, senior guard Dallis Dillard returns after sitting out last season following reconstructive knee surgery, and highly touted freshman forward Bautista Rodriguez is set to make his collegiate debut. Kymani Merraro, the reigning PSAC West Rookie of the Year, returns at point guard.

TASSO SFANOS

HARRY KEIGHLEY

“I’m extremely excited about this group,” Lombardi said. “We have the top eight coming back and a player who two years ago was on track to be an all-league caliber player in Dallis Dillard, and we add someone with international experience with Bautista, who hasn’t played in college yet but certainly has the maturity and game to be a big impact on the team.”

IUP used three freshmen last year during a 14-16 season that ended in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament. Merraro (15.1 points per game, 4.5 assists) and Tyler Grove (11.1 ppg, 4.3 rebounds per game) started as freshmen and Ian Herring (6.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg) came off the bench.

Also, guard Christian Moore (16.8 ppg) returns for his senior year after leading the Hawks in scoring last season.

Damir Brooks (10.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg), a 6-6 senior, and junior guard Sarp Furtun (4.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg) rounded out the starting five. Luke Triggs (4.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg), Alfonso Pickens Jr. (2.9 ppg) and Herring came off the bench.

“I’m very pleased with the development of the young and inexperienced team we had last year with three freshmen in the top six,” Lombardi said. “We were the youngest team in the country as well as the most inexperienced team in the country, and that caused a little pain at the time, but that experience will serve us well as these guys mature physically, mentally and emotionally. … So, there will be a lot of competition in the fall, and we’ll sort things out as time goes on and make decisions on what roles guys have as they make it clear by November.”

Sfanos is from Mars in Butler County. He played the past two years at South Carolina Beaufort, the upstart program launched by former IUP assistant Ron Fudala. Sfanos had 10 points when USCB won at IUP, 94-84, on Dec. 2. He averaged 8.2 points in 18 minutes per game (no starts) and shot 37 percent from 3-point range over his first two seasons. USCB finished 21-10 in its second season as a program.

“We’re excited about him,” Lombardi said. “He’ll bring experience to the guard rotation. He played in meaningful games and held his own and performed well and showed he can be a productive player in a winning program.”

Keighley comes to the Crimson Hawks from the Hawke’s Bay Hawks of the New Zealand National Basketball League. His highlight video on YouTube from last season features a series of blocked shots.

“Harry has a really good upside,” Lombardi said. “He has shown the ability to be a rim protector and has good basketball skills from the standpoint that he has good hands and a good feel for the game and passes well for a guy his size. He runs the court well and has good lateral movement.

“He played on club teams down there so the competition he played against is like the professional league. He wasn’t a professional, but that’s how they show off their young kids, by playing against guys that are paid professionals and the other spots are rounded out with non-professionals. That allowed him to compete against really good competition in practice and games, which tends to speed up the curve for 18-year-olds and makes the adjustment to college a little bit easier.”

IUP is coming off only its third losing season under Lombardi and its first since his second year in 2007-08. He is 431-137 (.759), which includes three games held during the 2020-21 pandemic season.

Under Lombardi, the Crimson Hawks have won seven PSAC championships and three NCAA Division II Atlantic Region titles and made two appearances in the national championship game and one in the national semifinals.

He enters his 20th season with his deepest roster in several years and has decisions to make on redshirt status with 11 players vying for eight or nine spots.

“Some guys will play fewer minutes and maybe take fewer shots than they took last year,” Lombardi said. “Every year is a new year, but high-character players will accept their role and try to be great at whatever role they have in order to pursue a championship.”