Men’s basketball opened up the River States Conference (RSC) playoffs as the number one seed, as they finished with a 28-2 overall record and 15-2 conference record. There has been a high amount of anticipation and hype surrounding this team in its run for the RSC title. Nothing worth having comes easy, and the Pioneers are fighting hard to get to the top of the mountain.

The Pioneers opened up postseason play in the quarterfinals against the nine-seeded Indiana East Red Wolves. The Red Wolves came into this game with a 7-11 record in conference play. In their previous matchup with Point Park, the Pioneers won 86-83. So, despite the Red Wolves’ lower seed, the outcome of this game remained uncertain.

To open up the game, the Pioneers came out firing on all cylinders. Not even 4 minutes into the game, the Pioneers took a 16-4 lead as the player of the game Jalen Stamps had five of the 16 opening points. Though the Red Wolves would have a resurgence of their own, as they got within three thanks to an Antuane Allen dunk. Allen led the Red Wolves bench in scoring with 15 points. The score was now 21-18 Pioneers. From this moment forward, the Pioneers would go on a 13 point scoring run, going up to 34-18. A huge part of that run was Nazareth Fisher, who came off the bench with an attitude that took over the game. He finished with an impressive 19 rebounds and 14 points.

The end-of-half score would be 50-42 as the Pioneers could not create a large lead against the Red Wolves. A big reason why the Pioneers were not able to pull away in this game was the Red Wolves’ leading scorer Ibra Athie, who had 25 points and a team-leading 18 rebounds as he willed the Red Wolves to a comeback. 

With just under seven minutes to go, the Pioneers had a 80-74 point lead. But then, the Red Wolves scored the next six points and took their first lead all game with five seconds to go, thanks to a Devon Woods jump shot. 

With their backs against the wall and season on the line, head coach Kevin Reynolds would proceed to put the fate of the historic season in the hands of Jalen Stamps. Stamps proceeded to get his 2,000-point career milestone in this very game. Stamps went coast-to-coast and scored the game-winning bucket on a made layup with his team-leading 25th point. All the boys surrounded Stamps in celebration of a 86-85 victory, one that will go down in Point Park history.

As the Pioneers advanced into the semifinals, they would face off against the WVU Tech Golden Bears. The teams’ last matchup took place on February 3, in which the Pioneers won 90-74 and Jo Valrie dropped 29 points. WVU Tech was placed as the fourth seed in the bracket, as they came off a 83-66 win against IU Kokomo. 

In this game it was the Jo Valrie and Jalen Stamps show, as they continued their stellar play from the regular season. The Pioneers once again started off the game flamin’ hot, but this time not letting their foot off the gas. 

At the 14:04 mark the Pioneers were up 22-6, and Jalen Stamps continued right where he left off from the semifinal game. Stamps converted four three point shots. It didn’t matter what WVU Tech did on defense, Stamps was automatic all game. 

At the end of the first half the Pioneers were comfortable, up 58-30. The one thing to watch for in the second half was whether or not the Pioneers would play with the same amount of urgency as they did in the first half, as this was a problem in the semifinals game.

This would not be the case as the Golden Bears were only able to cut the deficit to 20 points. The final score would be 87-63 Pioneers. A closer look at the impressive box score for the Pioneers featured Jalen Stamps finishing with 39 points and going 9-14 behind the arc. Jo Valrie would finish with a double double as he had 17 points and 10 rebounds. 

With this win, Point Park advances to the RSC Championship. They will play St. Mary-of-the-Woods, who went 17-1 in conference play. Their only loss came from the Pioneers way back on January 25 in a 77-70 game. 

The stakes are as high as they can be. Pioneer head coach Kevin Reynolds stated, “It’s one of the biggest games in Point Park Basketball history I would think.” He also mentioned, “the guys represent the school well on and off the court. It would be a great way to springboard Point Park into the national scene from a basketball standpoint.”