MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (January 29, 2011) – The Kutztown University men's basketball team rode a career-high scoring performance from Tamir Johnson (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter), scored the first seven points and never trailed as it defeated Millersville University, 87-74, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division game Saturday afternoon at Pucillo Gym. (BOXSCORE)
Kutztown (12-5 overall, 5-0 PSAC East) remained a game ahead of Mansfield in the PSAC East standings. Going back to last year, the Golden Bears have won six straight PSAC East regular season contests. Millersville fell to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in the conference.
Johnson made 12-of-15 shots and finished with a game-high 26 points. It was the fourth time this season, Johnson finished with 20 or more points. Johnson's previous career best effort was a 25-point performance against Indiana, Pa. on Jan. 9. The senior forward became the fifth different Golden Bear to lead the team in scoring during its five game winning streak. Overall, Kutztown, which received two votes in last week's National Association of Basketball Coaches' (NABC) poll, has won six of its last seven contests.
Also reaching double figures for the Golden Bears was Nate Edwards (Philadelphia, PA/North Catholic) (19 points) and Devon McBride (Richmond, VA/Hill School) (career best 15 points). They helped Kutztown make 56.9 percent of its shots. It was the fifth straight game Kutztown has shot at least 50 percent. Jermaine Jackson (Blandon, PA/Reading) and Steve Coffey (Reading, PA/Wilson) finished with eight points each. Jackson and Coffey combined for 14 points in the second half. Coffey, the reigning PSAC East Player of the Week, has been on quite a roll in his last three games, making 15 of his last 18 shots from the field.
“All season long, different guys have had opportunities to contribute and today is was Devon,” Kutztown head coach Bernie Driscoll said. “We executed our plan well and played really hard. This was a good win for us to get. I also thought we did a nice job defending Mike Seibert. He still got his points, but I thought Nate and Steve did a good job of making him work for his points.”
Seibert finished with 17 points for the Marauders. Jaymes Miller led Millersville with 22 points and six rebounds. Bernard Brown tallied 10 points for Millersville. Also, defensively, KU forced Millersville into 3-for-17 accuracy from 3-point distance. The Marauders made a season-high 11 in their last outing against West Chester seven days ago.
Edwards, Johnson and McBride helped the Golden Bears open a 45-39 lead at halftime. They scored 38 points in the first half with Edwards leading the way with 14 on 6-of-7 shooting. McBride and Johnson had 12 each in the opening 20 minutes. Edwards drilled a 3-pointer with five minutes in the first half that gave Kutztown its biggest lead at the time, 38-27.
Brown started the second half with a layup that sliced Kutztown's lead to 45-41. That would be as close as the Marauders would get. Johnson punctuated KU's 10-2 run with a dunk that stretched their advantage to 55-43 with 15 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. The Marauders could only get as close as six points on a few occasions.
Kutztown has seemed to get stronger in the second half during its first five conference games. The Golden Bears have trailed for a grand total of 5 minutes, 34 seconds in the second half. Kutztown has also held a double-digit edge at some point during the second half.
The Golden Bears have little time to savor this accomplishment. They return to action Monday night when they travel to Cheyney University for an 8 p.m. start.
--KU--
