KOKOMO, Ind. -- Point Park University could not match the attack of IU Kokomo and lost, 96-82, in a River States Conference men's basketball road game Saturday.
Daniel King scored another 31 points, Fousseini Konate added a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds and Aaron Barlow tallied a near-double double of 12 points and nine boards. But the Pioneers (4-8, 1-3 RSC) could not produce the same output as the Cougars (5-7, 2-2 RSC), who shot 52 percent, made 13 treys and had big performances from a few players.
Akil McClain scored 22 points on 6 of 11 from long range, and teammate Trent Elliott put in 21 points and made 3 of 8 treys to propel IU Kokomo to the win. Eddie Miles totaled 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Antoin Clifton came off the bench for 13 points and also got into the 3-point act making 2 of 4 from there.
Point Park trailed, 46-34, at the half, and that was after the Cougars closed on an 11-4 run. Miles hit a trey at the buzzer to cap off the spurt. Moments earlier, Point Park had gotten within 35-30 on Barlow's basket. The Pioneers had trailed 29-18 earlier in the half but battled back.
King, who made 11 of 21 field goals and 5 of 8 treys for his third 30-point game of the year, scored a basket early in the second half to pull the Pioneers within 46-41. Point Park was still hanging in down 65-58 at the under-12:00 media timeout.
But IU Kokomo got the offense going to open up an 86-66 by the next media timeout under 6:00. The Cougars made eight 3-pointers the second half and 18 of 34 field goals the last 20 minutes overall.
Point Park also had its offense clicking in the second half with 53-percent shooting (19 for 36) after halftime. The Pioneers connected on 7 of 14 treys in the second half, but all that did was match the Cougars.
Other leaders for Point Park were Asim Pleas with nine points, six rebounds and four assists and Gavin Rajahpillay with seven points and five assists. Rajahpillay missed the last two games due to injury and came off the bench for some action before leaving the game with a re-injury.
King now has 90 points in his last three games with 31 at IU Kokomo and before that 26 versus Wilberforce and 33 versus Carlow. Konate was 6 of 9 from the floor, and Barlow was a perfect 6 for 6.
Point Park takes this next coming week off of games during final exams. The Pioneers have their next game at NCAA Division II Malone (Ohio) (6-4) on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m.
Follow the Pioneers on social media @PointParkSports hashtags #PPUMBB and #ppuhoops and online at PointParkSports.com.
