PITTSBURGH, PA. -- The SMWC men's basketball team led 36-29 at halftime at No. 21 Point Park, but the host Pioneers rallied to hold off the Pomeroys for a 77-70 victory.
SMWC (14-5, 8-1 RSC) suffered its first loss of the River States Conference schedule. Point Park (19-1, 8-1 RSC) got 16 second-half points from 2022-23 honorable-mention All-American Jo Valrie and Jalen Stamps.
Cobie Barnes paced the Pomeroys with 21 points. Greg Jenkins added 19, and Chaz Birchfield had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. DaMeriz Merriweather chipped in 11 off the bench.
SMWC jumped out to a solid start, building a 14-6 lead on a jumper by Merriweather. A layup by Barnes made it 20-11 for the Pomeroys at the 8:05 mark of the first half.
With Valrie sitting for the remainder of the first half, SMWC had an opportunity to build its lead further.
Barnes and Jenkins had buckets to put SMWC ahead 34-25 with 2:46 to go before the half, but the Pioneers got within 36-27 with an alley-oop dunk from Stamps to Nazareth Fisher with four seconds to go.
Point Park used a 7-0 run early in the second half to pull within 40-39 just three minutes, 23 seconds into the second half. Point Park took the lead on a 3-pointer by Stamps and built that into a 50-44 lead.
Barnes capped a 7-0 run with two mid-range jumpers that put the Pomeroys back ahead. Point Park regained the lead and Barnes put the Pomeroys ahead again with a 3-pointer with 9:13 remaining. A 6-0 run for Point Park followed to put it ahead 65-58 with 6:06 to go.
The Pomeroys clawed back within four on a bucket by Birchfield with 1:15 left. SMWC pulled in three offensive boards on the other end with an opportunity to pull within two but came up empty.
SMWC visits Shawnee State on Saturday. The Bears (14-5, 8-1 RSC) defeated IU Kokomo on Thursday by a score of 75-58.