Art Christian scored a career-high 19 points in the victory -- SAM ROBINSON.
STATS
NEW ALBANY, Ind. -- Point Park University men's basketball picked up an important KIAC win on Friday night, 86-84, at IU Southeast for its fourth win in a row.
The Pioneers (15-10, 8-7 KIAC) have now won six of their last seven games after holding on to beat the Grenadiers (9-19, 5-10 KIAC). The victory was the 700th in progam history, which dates back to 1967-68 as the first year versus four-year schools. The Pioneers are 700-625 in 49 seasons.
Point Park's big run to end the first half carried over to the second half and resulted in a 19-point lead of 52-33 with 16:00 left. The Pioneers were still up 12 points with 2:31 remaining, and they held on for the victory.
Kelvin Goodwin scored his average of 22 points to lead all five Point Park starters in double figures. Art Christian put up a career-high 19 points, and T.J. Lanier had 18. Fousseini Konate scored 13 points, and Jerah'me Williams added 10 points and 10 assists to round out the starting lineup.
IU Southeast took advantage of some Point Park turnovers in the final minutes to make it close. That and a couple of 3-point plays the old fashioned way had the Grenadiers within 86-84 with eight seconds left after Jacob Mills converted a basket and a foul.
A turnover on the ensuing inbounds gave the ball right back to IU Southeast. Mills, who had 21 points and was 4 for 10 from 3-point range, attempted a go-ahead trey, but it missed. IU Southeast then got two offensive rebounds, but it missed the potential tying shots each time before the clock expired.
The Grenadiers had 53 points off the bench led by Mills' 21 and 24 from Devon White. IU Southeast had very cold shooting in the first half to fall behind, 41-29. The Grenadiers shot just 7 for 32 overall (22 percent) and 3 for 20 from long range the first 20 minutes.
Point Park took advantage and ended the first half on a 20-6 run to take the 12-point lead at the break. Goodwin already had 14 points and Christian 10 by halftime.
The run carried over to the second half as the Pioneers opened up an 11-4 spurt to start things off. Williams capped off the run for the biggest lead of the night.
Point Park stayed up double-digits until the final minutes. It was a strong offensive showing with 50 percent shooting overall and 50 percent from long range (11 for 22). The 3-point shooting came from four players who hit multiple treys. Lanier, Williams and Christian hit three each, and Goodwin hit two.
IU Southeast picked up its shooting for 48 percent in the second half. Its big advantage in rebounds, 50-36, was nearly enough to complete the comeback. The Grenadiers had 22 offensive rebounds, including the two at the end. But they didn't hit enough shots with 37 percent shooting overall and 7 for 35 (20 percent) from outside the arc.
The win keeps Point Park alive for a possible home playoff game in the first round of the KIAC Tournament Feb. 24. If they Pioneers win their regular-season finale Saturday at IU Kokomo (2 p.m.), they will host that game. With a loss, Point Park would need a loss by WVU Tech at Cincinnati Christian (3 p.m.) on Saturday to host in the first round.
The loss by IU Southeast eliminated the Grenadiers from postseason contention. IU Southeast needed to beat Point Park and Carlow at home this weekend to get in.
WATCH LIVE Point Park at IU Kokomo on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. ET: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ppu. LISTEN LIVE on WPPJ-AM 670 and WPPJradio.com or the Tune-In app.
NOTES: The win at IU Southeast puts Point Park at 2-5 in KIAC road games this year. The Pioneers had been 0-5 in conference road games outside of Pittsburgh before that.
