KUTZTOWN, Pa. — Stephen Dennis (West Chester, PA/Henderson) (jr. West Chester/Henderson) scored a team-high 23 points as the Kutztown University men's basketball team survived a defensive affair against Philadelphia, 68-60 Saturday at Keystone Arena.
“We needed a close one coming into the holiday break,” Dennis said. “We needed a little test.”
The Rams (5-2) provided that test for KU (8-0), climbing back into the game after trailing by as many as 15 early in the second half.
Dennis opened the scoring in the second half with four straight points, and Dave Ben (sr. Coatesville/Coatesville), who finished with 20 points, pushed the KU lead to 47-32 with 13:49 left.
Philadelphia, however, went on a 15-5 run to cut it to five points with 9:16 left, but six straight missed free throws, including five in five seconds hurt the Rams.
Malcolm Ingram missed the front end of a one-and-one, and on the rebound, Ingram was fouled. A technical foul was assessed to Ryan Washington (Philadelphia, PA/Wissahickon) (so. Philadelphia/Wissahickon) immediately after the play giving the Rams four free throws.
Mike Dunn, who struggled from the floor, shooting 0-for-8 — including 0-for-7 from 3 — missed the two free throws awarded by the technical and Ingram missed his two after that.
KU kept it at a two-possession game the rest of the way.
“I never felt comfortable in this game until the last buzzer went off and we were up by eight,” KU head coach Bernie Driscoll “There was just a bad flow to the game. It was a hard-fought game. I think we were very fortunate to come out with a win.”
The win is KU's eighth straight as the Golden Bears are off to the best start in 90 years.
Washington led the Golden Bears in rebounding with 10 and Dennis had eight. Dennis also had three steals and four assists.
Ben, who is 11 points away from moving into second place on KU's all-time scoring list, went 6-of-8 from the free-throw line, as the Golden Bears shot 20-of-31.
The Rams were 18-of-29 from the line, with Russell Frederick hitting 10-of-13 en route to his game-high 29 points. Marcus Lemon had 13 points for Philadelphia.
KU will return to the court when it hosts Penn State-Abington at 7 p.m. Dec. 30
