CHEYNEY, Pa. (January 31, 2011) – The Kutztown University men's basketball team dropped an 86-72 decision to Cheyney University in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division men's basketball game Monday night at Cope Hall. (BOXSCORE)
The Golden Bears (12-6 overall, 5-1 PSAC East) suffered their first conference loss and dropped into a first-place tie with Mansfield (13-5, 5-1). Kutztown hosts Mansfield Wednesday night at Keystone Arena beginning at 8 p.m. The winner of that game will have sole possession of first place.
Kutztown placed four players in double figures highlighted by Tamir Johnson (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter)'s 19 points. Johnson was named the PSAC East Player of the Week earlier in the day. Also reaching double digits for the Golden Bears was Nate Edwards (Philadelphia, PA/North Catholic) (16 points), Devon McBride (Richmond, VA/Hill School) (14) and Eric Brennan (Chester, PA/West Catholic) (11). However, it wasn't enough to overcome a tough 2-for-12 effort from 3-point distance for the Golden Bears. Kutztown also hurt itself by missing 18 foul shots.
Meanwhile, Cheyney (13-6, 2-4) ended a three-game losing streak by getting 22 points from David Burton and 21 from Bruce Kennedy. The Golden Bears did a nice job defensively on leading scorer Sharif Bray as they held him to 14 points on 2-for-10 shooting. Bray was 9-for-10 from the foul line.
The Golden Bears played from behind most of the evening. Kutztown held leads of 2-0, 7-6, and 27-26. Each time it was a Johnson basket that put KU ahead. Cheyney took the lead for good, 29-27, on a Bray 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 6 seconds remaining in the first half. The Wolves carried a 38-33 lead into intermission.
Johnson scored a layup to pull Kutztown to 40-37 with 18:17 remaining. That would be as close as the Golden Bears would get. Cheyney gained control with an 11-2 burst that stretched its advantage to 50-39 with 14:09 remaining. The Wolves kept the Golden Bears at arms' length for the remainder of the game.
