CALIFORNIA, Pa. (January 8, 2011)—Senior
Julius Gray (Lincoln University, PA/Oxford Area) tied his career-high by scoring 25 points and the Kutztown University men's basketball team defeated California (Pa.) 72-66, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover game, Saturday evening at Hamer Hall.
(BOXSCORE)
The Golden Bears improved to 7-4 overall while the Vulcans dropped to 6-4.
With under eight minutes left in the second half, Cal -- after trailing by 16 points at intermission -- seized its first lead of the half, 58-57 with a layup from Rashawd Hatten. The next two minutes would go back and forth with both teams scoring, until KU's
Nate Edwards (Philadelphia, PA/North Catholic) tied the game 61-61, with a pair of free throws with 5:44 remaining.
The Golden Bears took advantage of the free throw line, picking up six points in two minutes.
Jermaine Jackson (Blandon, PA/Reading) made a pair of foul shots with 4:52 remaining to give KU the lead for good, 63-61. Howewer, a layup from Cal's Steve Swiech sliced Kutztown's advantage to 67-65 with 1:23 remaining. With 51 seconds left,
Tamir Johnson (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter) was clutch in delivering a layup pushing the game further out of Cal's reach. With KU leading 69-66, Gray sealed the deal with KU's final three points at the line. The Vulcans ran into foul trouble as three of its players fouled out. Overall, Kutztown was 13-for-16 from the foul line after it fell behind, 61-57, with 6:38 remaining.
"The kids showed a lot of character when Cal took the lead," Kutztown head coach
Bernie Driscoll said. "I thought Julius and Tamir did a nice job of settling the team down. Eric had a strong game off the bench, Jermaine played well and we made foul shots.”
The first half favored KU as it held a 40-24 lead at intermission. The Golden Bears were 13-for-21 (61.9%) in the field.
Jermaine Jackson (Blandon, PA/Reading)'s layup at 8:54 in the first half put KU ahead 17-15, and it never looked back.
Gray leads the team in scoring (13.7 points per game) and made four three-pointers against Cal.
Johnson finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, for his third three double-double this season. Johnson leads the team in rebounds (8.6/game) and has 95 on the season.
Jermaine Jackson (Blandon, PA/Reading) added 10 points coming off the bench for Kutztown. Jackson finished with four rebounds, two blocks, steals, and assists.
Eric Brennan (Chester, PA/West Catholic),
Alex Reed (Coatesville, PA/Coatesville), and Edwards combined for 20 points. As a team, KU cleaned the glass with 42 rebounds.
“This was a good win for us against a good team in a tough environment,” Drsicoll said. “We played good hard basketball along with good defense and that made the difference for us."
Kutztown returns to action Sunday afternoon when it travels to Indiana, Pa., ranked 20th in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll, in a rematch of last year's PSAC championship game.
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