photos by Madison Turiczek

Junior guard and forward T.J. Lanier dunks the ball early in the first half in the game against Carlow.

Senior forward Barry Smith jumps over his opponent to score two points in a game against Carlow.

The Point Park men’s basketball team ventured away this past week, starting off with their first ever meeting against Carlow University.

The game took place at Oakland Catholic High School last Tuesday night, where Point Park ended their two game losing streak with a win. 

The Pioneers crushed the first half in the Kentucky Intercollegiate  Athletic Conference (KIAC) game, with Jerah’me Williams shooting a 3-pointer near the halftime buzzer to make the score 42-29.

Point Park kept the momentum going in the second half, expanding their lead to 65-45. Not stopping there, the Pioneers pushed it to 80-62 with five minutes left in the game.

“We knew we had to win to stay in the race for the first place spot in the conference,” Art Christian said. “Coming off a two game losing streak, we took it a little personal.”

Williams had nine assists and 24 points. Sa’iid Allen finished the game with 15 points.

Carlow is in its first year of men’s basketball, but that didn’t stop the Pioneers from treating the team any different.

“Nothing different, it was just another game,” Williams said after the game. “It feels alright to win, but it’s not first place, so we are trying to get first to get home conference games. I think we’re ready for the upcoming challenges.”

Point Park’s KIAC conference record was 4-4 after winning against Carlow. This put the Pioneers in second place in the KIAC North Division.

The Pioneers next game was against division leader IU East in an away game this past Sunday.

The Pioneers came extremely close to winning against IU East, but just weren’t able to pull through in the overtime game.

Williams put in his 21 points for the game with six assists also helping with early points in overtime helped bump the score 79-73.

A pair of free throws made by IU East tied the game at 79-79 with less than two minutes left.

The Pioneers were unable to come back from the tie, ending the game at 84-81.

With the win for the Red Wolves, they secured the KIAC North Division title, having a four game lead over the rest of the division.

With this loss, the Pioneers will have to focus on getting second place in the KIAC division, which would come with a home game in the KIAC tournament, which comes at the end of the month.

Alan Heter and Yandell Davis both totaled 15 points in the game. Davis also had nine rebounds and five steals.

The Point Park starters played all of the game except for eight minutes.  Williams and Barry Smith played all 45 minutes. Heter played the whole game except a few seconds.

Point Park dropped to 2-4 KIAC road games but will be playing three of their final four games at home.

The Pioneers started off with Rio Grande on Tuesday, who they last beat on the road on Jan. 7, which is still the only loss for Rio Grande.