At the start of the season, Shippensburg University men’s basketball coach Dave Springer said that he believed the Raiders were better than the seventh position they were voted in the preseason polling.
After this loss, the pollsters are looking like geniuses.
SU, despite Joe Lococo’s team-high 18-points were shown how much work they need to put in before they can compete with the upper-echelon of the PSAC as they were ousted 72-48 by No. 21 IUP at the Kovalchick Complex on Friday night.
The Raiders, down 18-2 early in the first half, raced out to an 11-0 run behind two 3-pointers from Lococo narrowing the lead to 5.
Unfortunately that was the lone bright spot for the Raiders. IUP answered with an 11-0 run of its own and coasted to a 39-21 lead at the break.
IUP came out on fire in the second half. After SU brought the deficit down to 17 with 18 minutes to play in the game, IUP surged. The Crimson Hawks expanded the lead to a game-high 27 points and never led by less than 20 for the rest of the contest.
The Raiders were abysmal from the floor shooting only 30 percent from the field. After shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc in the first half, the Raiders followed that up with a 0-5 performance in the second half.
IUP (10-2, 6-2) will host Millersville University tonight at the Kovalchick Complex.
The Raiders (2-10, 0-8) will look to rebound when they travel to California University of Pa. with a 7:30 contest. The Vulcans are coming off a 62-60 defeat the hands of MU.
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