MILLERSVILLE, PA (January 16, 2010) – Kutztown University senior guard and Division II national player of the candidate Stephen Dennis (West Chester, PA/Henderson) (West Chester/Henderson) scored a game-high 35 points to lead the third-ranked Golden Bears to an 83-63 victory over Millersville University in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division contest at Pucillo Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. (BOXSCORE)
It was the second consecutive game in which Dennis scored 30 or more points. Dennis, the reigning PSAC East player of the week, averaged 38.5 points in two victories this past week. He scored a career-high 42 points in a win over East Stroudsburg Wednesday night. Dennis has now scored 1,960 career points, moving him within 57 points of tying Dave Ben's school record of 2,017 points. The 35 points are the second most Dennis has scored in a single game during his remarkable career. He has scored at least 30 points in five games this season.
Dennis, the leading scorer in the PSAC and fourth leading scorer in the nation, made 13-of-19 shots from the field and 9-of-12 from the foul line as Kutztown (14-0 overall, 2-0 PSAC East) continued its best start to a season in more than 90 years. He finished his sterling effort with a monster one-handed dunk late in the second half.
Junior center Ryan Washington (Philadelphia, PA/Wissahickon) (Philadelphia/Wissahickon) notched his ninth double-double of the year with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He also added four assists and three blocked shots. Junior forward Tamir Johnson (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter) (Philadelphia/Imhotep Charter) recorded his second double-double of the season with 14 points and a career best 17 rebounds. Freshman guard Jon DeShields (Chester, PA/Life Center) (Federalsburg, MD/Life Center) finished with seven points and made a pair of timely 3-pointers to help extend KU scoring surges in each half.
This was the 10th time this season, Kutztown made 50 percent or better of its shots from the field. The Golden Bears shot 55.9 percent from the field for the game (33-for-59). The Golden Bears also won the rebounding battle, 44-31.
Millersville (6-9, 1-1) was led by Bradnon Widener, who scored 15 points. Also reaching double digits for the Marauders was Jason Blake (11 points) and Palmer McDurfee (10 points).
The Golden Bears wasted little time in expanding their 39-30 halftime edge. Johnson opened the second half with a dunk off of a rebound 24 seconds into the second half to give KU its first double-digit edge of the game. After a MU basket, Dennis sank a short jumper to give the Golden Bears a 43-32 edge with 18 minutes, 19 seconds remaining. Kutztown's lead never dropped below double digits after that.
During a sizzling six-minute stretch of the second half, the Golden Bears made seven of eight shots to open a 59-42 advantage with 11:48 remaining.
Trailing 17-12 eight minutes into the game, Kutztown really got going. The Golden Bears scored 13 consecutive points to grab control of the contest. Washington gave Kutztown the lead for good, 18-17, on a layup with 10:28 remaining in the first half. Kutztown led by nine points on three different occasions in the first half. In the opening half, Dennis and Washington, the nation's highest scoring duo, combined for 29 of KU's 39 points.
Kutztown returns to action Wednesday night when it visits Mansfield beginning at 7:30 p.m. Fans can listen to every second on the Golden Bear Radio Network.
--KU--
