GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's basketball team dropped its second game of the Spartan Showcase Saturday night as the Spartans fell 64-58 to IPFW at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Spartans wrap up the multi-team event Sunday afternoon, hosting Jacksonville at 3 p.m. IPFW and Navy will meet in game one Sunday with a 12:30 p.m. tip-off.

The Spartans were held to just 36.2 percent (21-of-58) shooting from the field and only 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from long range in the loss. Senior forward Kayel Locke (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) led three Spartans in double figures with 13 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Francis Alonso (Malaga, Spain/Cushing Academy) added 12 points off the bench while junior center R.J. White (Frisco, Texas/Frisco) chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds.

The two teams started slowly with IPFW opening up to an early 9-7 lead over eight minutes in the game. The Mastodons extended their lead to 20-12 with five straight points as Mo Evans hit a 3-pointer and Jon Konchar added a basket in the paint. The Spartans answered back with five straight of their own to narrow the gap to 20-17 as Alonso hit back-to-back shots to make it a one-possession game.

IPFW (6-1) would close the half on a 7-3 run to take a 27-20 lead in the locker room. The Spartans connected on just 29.6 percent (8-of-27) from the field, including 4-of-14 (28.6%) from long range in the first half. Alonso led all scorers with eight points in the first half. IPFW out-scored the Spartans 16-6 in the paint in the opening half while shooting 39.3 percent (11-of-28) from the field.

The Mastodons scored the first five points of the second half to take a 30-22 lead by the Spartans answered right back with five straight of their own, all from Locke. IPFW extended its lead to 13 points at 46-33 with 11:50 remaining as Michael Calder and Max Landis hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

The Spartans weren't able to make a run until pulling within five at 55-50 with 2:35 left as Locke scored in the pain and junior Diante Baldwin (Greensboro, N.C./High Point Christian) hit a 3-pointer. IPFW hit four free throws to take a 59-51 lead with 1:11 remaining before UNCG made a late charge.

White nailed a 3-pointer to make it 59-54 and Baldwin stole the inbounds pass and scored in the paint to make it a one-possession game at 59-56 with 52 second remaining. IPFW was able to seal the victory by hitting 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch while the Spartans missed a pair of free throw on their end to close out the loss.

UNCG was out-scored 26-18 in the paint and only recorded five assists on 21 field goals Saturday night. Landis led the Mastodons with 14 points as he was 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Konchar added 13 points and nine rebounds in the victory for IPFW.

-UNCG-