The Point Park men’s basketball team fought its way to the end this year. Before Point Park went on spring break last week, the Pioneers started off the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) Tournament in a fight to the finish.

The Pioneers started with a home game against first year Carlow University.

Point Park had a lead of 9-0 after two minutes. Senior Alan Heter had 23 points and eight rebounds in the game. Senior forward Barry Smith followed with 12 points and six rebounds.

The Pioneers kept their defense up with Carlow getting only as close as 57-39 with less than 13 minutes to go.

The Pioneers had their biggest lead of the night when Heter helped score for a 71-47 lead against Carlow, finishing with a score of 83-61.

Cincinnati Christian University (CCU) was the next team to get defeated by Point Park in the quarterfinals game.

In the very close game against CCU, PPU made seven of the right free throws in the ending of the game, which helped overcome the 20-game winner Cincinnati Christian.

Junior guard Yandell Denis played with 23 points and junior guard T.J. Lanier had 17 points and made five 3-pointers during the game to help the Pioneers with a 59-46 lead in the middle of the game.

CCU was not going down without a fight and came back 68-64 with less than nine minutes to go.

Nine minutes was enough time for the Pioneers to make sure they kept their lead going, working it back up to 79-70.

The Pioneers had a well-deserved final score of 86-84 against CCU.

The win gave Point Park its first playoff win in eight years, which was last seen in 2006-07.

The Pioneers then moved to an away game against Brescia University in the semifinals. Point Park showed how badly they wanted to make it to the championship game and succeeded in doing so by showing their shooting skills, shooting at 62 percent against Brescia.

Heter ended with 24 points and nine rebounds from the floor. Smith added 23 points to the game. Nine of the 19 three-pointers were made by Point Park, making it a 42 percent hit from outside the arc.

Yandell Denis added 22 points to the scoreboard, along with six rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Jerah’me Williams followed with 21 points, nine assists and six steals. T.J. Lanier snuck up with nine points and seven rebounds.

Brescia tried to storm back, cutting Point Park’s lead to 82-74 with five minutes left in the game.

Brescia had better rebound game with 29-26, but PPU had better defense, which helped with the winning score of 99-84.

Point Park then traveled to the tournament finals against Indiana University East.

The Pioneers started off with a 32-29 lead, even though they had a shooting percent of 31 percent with the start of the game.

The Red Wolves did not let the Pioneers get much more ahead then that, storming back in the second half and shooting at 59 percent.

Williams had 17 points and seven assists and Lanier followed with 13 points.

The Red Wolves led by 17 points with less than three minutes to go, the Pioneers had no chance for a recovery.

Even though the Pioneers lost to Cincinnati Christian 84-67, the last time the Pioneers had gotten to a championship game was eight years ago.

The team wishes they could have gone all the way, but they have no regrets for their season.

“It’s bittersweet because it is the end of my collegiate basketball career, but I am happy that we made it that far into the tournament,” Smith said. “I think that we left everything on the court but just came up short.”

“We are not happy being the runners up but it is also a good accomplishment especially with the group of guys that played this year,” Denis said.

Lastly, Williams was named KIAC Newcomer of the Year. Williams leads the KIAC guards in fieldgoal percentage of 51 percent, which is seventh in the conference. From the three-point range, Williams ranks at 44 percent, as well as shoots at 81 percent from the free throw line.

“I am happy to be apart of the group of guys and I wish Barry, Alan, and Corey the best in life,” Williams said. “I love my team!”

The Pioneers ended with a record of 16-13 overall, 6-7 KIAC for the season.