The Gannon men’s basketball team was back at it again Saturday night, taking on Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the No. 1 team in the PSAC West.
And despite two players recording career-high point totals, the Golden Knights fell to the Crimson Hawks, 79-67, in Indiana, Pa.
Sophomore forward Isaiah Eisendorf recorded 20 points in 33 minutes of play and senior guard Tony Boykins went 7-for-11 from the floor in 38 minutes and recorded 16 points.
Senior Jean Yves Toupane played all 40 minutes and scored 14 points for the Knights, who fell to 4-15 overall and 3-13 in PSAC play heading into Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. matchup with Clarion at the Hammermill Center.
Saturday’s battle with IUP swung back and forth throughout the first half, but the Crimson Hawks’ defense held the Knights to 30 points in the first 20 minutes and led by nine points at halftime.
The Hawks entered the intermission with momentum after Brandon Spain threw down a slam-dunk with only 14 ticks left on the clock.
Gannon and IUP came out of the locker room at intermission and played relatively evenly, until the Hawks let their 3-point shooting do the talking.
After back-to-back triples by the Crimson Hawks’ Dante Lombardi and Anthony Glover, the Knights’ deficit grew to 15 points.
The game stayed at this distance for most of the rest of the way, until IUP went on a 5-0 run to increase its lead to 19.
Gannon was unable to get within single digits for the rest of the game, and eventually lost for the fifth time in its last six starts.
Saturday’s loss came on the heels of a 74-61 loss to Edinboro on Jan. 27.
Gannon has showed that it has no problem staying competitive throughout the first half of the game, but after halftime it appears as if the Knights just don’t have enough gas to finish the game completely.
Edinboro’s dynamic guard tandem of Jaymon Mason and Henri Wade-Chatman combined for 46 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Fighting Scots rallied from an early nine-point deficit at the Hammermill Center.
Toupane led the way for the Knights with 18 points and nine rebounds, the 13th time this season he has reached double-digits in scoring.
Additionally, this was the first win for Edinboro at the Hammermill Center since February of 2013, and the fifth time Gannon has lost a game while leading at halftime.
Following Wednesday’s matchup at home against Clarion, the Knights will travel to take on the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
ALEC SCHEMMEL
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